Indian American A.K. Balaji is part of the team that developed the device.
A surgical drilling device developed by a research team at the University of Utah has the potential to make future surgical procedures 50 times faster, says a report published by the Neurosurgical Focus.
According to the report, the drilling machine is similar to the ones used in auto manufacturing units and can be used for complex surgeries without the worry of infection or human errors.
Indian American A.K. Balaji, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Utah University, was part of the team, which also included William Couldwell, , M.D., Ph.D., a neurosurgeon at Utah University.
The scientists say that the new device can reduce the time of a two-hour long surgery to almost two and a half minutes.
The drilling machine, by making fast, clean and safe cuts, will reduce the time it is exposed to open air, minimizing the chance of infection and surgical cost.
At the moment, doctors are using hand grills to make the incision, especially during cranial surgeries, but the computer-driven automated drill could play a pivotal role in future surgical processes.
“It was like doing archaeology,” Couldwell, told the journal. “We had to slowly take away the bone to avoid sensitive structures.”
Coldwell, who led the interdisciplinary team at Utah, said: “We knew the technology was already available in the machine world, but no one ever applied it to medical applications.”
The researchers said they created the medical drill from scratch to address the issues faced by neurologists and made it functional by developing a software that can do the precision cutting.
“My expertise is dealing with the removal of metal quickly, so a neurosurgical drill was a new concept for me,” said Balaji. “I was interested in developing a low-cost drill that could do a lot of the grunt work to reduce surgeon fatigue.”
The machine first takes the CT scan of the patient’s bone data to collect sensitive structures such as nerves, major veins, and arteries that must be avoided during complex operations. Surgeons use this information to program the cutting path of the drill.
“The software lets the surgeon choose the optimum path from point A to point B, like Google Maps,” said Balaji. In addition, the surgeon can program safety barriers along the cutting path within 1 mm of sensitive structures. “Think of the barriers like a construction zone,” said Balaji. “You slow down to navigate its safety.”
“It’s like Monster Garage, except instead of machining a part, we are machining the skull,” Caldwell told the journal.
According to Couldwell, the translabyrinthine opening surgery, a very complex surgery that has to be done through the ear, was successfully done using the new drill.
“The access is through the temporal bone which is a hard bone with strange angles,” said Balaji.
Couldwell said this particular cut requires a lot of experience and skill to perform it safely. “We thought this procedure would be a perfect proof of principle to show the accuracy of this technology,” he said.
The researchers said the drill can be used for a variety of surgeries, like machining the perfect receptacle opening in the bone for a hip implant.
Balaji said the project will democratize healthcare by leveling the playing field and it will lead to more people receiving quality care.
The team is now looking at options to commercialize the new technology to ensure that it help in easing surgeries across the world.