Remedy Robotics in the AJNR
Remote Robotic Neurointervention: Overcoming Procedural and Connectivity Challenges
In December 2023 Remedy Robotics embarked on a testing program at UCLA in partnership with experts from UCLA, UCSF and UC Davis. While the Remedy system has evolved since then, the work completed for that study remains incredibly important and represents a pivotal moment for robotic intervention and remote intervention. The outcomes of the study were recently accepted for publication in the American Journal of Neuroradiology.
What did this study show?
Up until now, remote robotic surgery/intervention has been used for one-off, highly orchestrated demos peel a grape or perhaps move a guidewire back and forth in a single vessel for pats on the back. This work is different.
In one afternoon, a robot was integrated into a clinical environment at UCLA and then operated by five different clinicians in four different locations from as far as 2,700 miles away. Each clinician used full robotic control to navigate from the femoral artery to M2, with independent control of five tools (two triaxial), control of contrast injection, and control of audiovisual communication. Machine learning was used to make control easy and safe and also to optimize visualization. Connectivity was measured for an extended period preoperatively and for all cases intraoperatively. Episodes of prolonged latency intraoperatively were safely handled.
Put simply, Remedy demonstrated that a system capable of entirely robotic procedures could be successfully integrated and used in a hospital environment.
This work was the catalyst for the RemedyRobotics team to buckle down and seriously dial in the system. We have now completed incredible on-premise cases in humans, which you can read about here.
Read all about it
Working with an esteemed team of clinicians from across the University of California system — Gary Duckwiler, Charles Beaman, Michael Kilpatrick, Daniel Cooke, Kazim. Narsinh, Geoffrey Colby and Ben Waldau — the results of this study were written up and recently accepted for publication in the American Journal of Neuroradiology. You can read a pre-print online now.
