Beyond its main business of Internet
search and advertising, google is becoming more innovative in health care
field. You heard it right.... In its latest
endeavour the google will develop surgical robots that use artificial
intelligence. The google
has recently teamed with pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to build
robots that could assist surgeons in the operating theatre.
Google’s life sciences division will be
working with Johnson & Johnson’s medical device company, Ethicon, to create
a robotics-assisted surgical platform to help doctors in the operating theatre. This will be done by combining Google's expertise
with Ethicon knowledge and intellectual property. The project promises on a
minimally-invasive surgery, which give surgeons improved accuracy, reducing
scarring and trauma significantly. The result could mean faster healing times
for anyone receiving invasive surgery.
Google believe that it can enhance the
robotic tools using artificial intelligence technologies including machine
vision and image analysis software to help surgeons see better during operation
or make it easier to get information relevant to surgery. However surgeons will still have ultimate control over what
surgical procedures to make, while the platform acts as a supportive
tool. The two firms will explore how
advanced imaging and sensors could complement surgeons’ abilities, for example
by highlighting blood vessels, nerve cells, tumour margins or other important
structures that could be hard to discern in tissue by eye or on a screen.
Robot-assisted
surgeries aren't a new thing, it has been since 1985 to improve accuracy in operating rooms
including in heart, eye and prostate surgery. Robotic
surgery works best for operations that require small incisions and high levels
of precision. Surgeons typically consult multiple separate screens in the
operating room to check preoperative medical images, like MRIs, results of
previous surgeries and lab tests, or understand how to navigate an unusual
anatomical structure. Google said software could place these images on the same
screen that surgeons use to control robotic tools, reducing the need to look
away at other screens during the procedures.
Google will be
providing software and expertise for data analysis and vision but will not be
developing the control mechanisms for the robots. Currently
Da Vinci Surgery System, a California-based
Intuitive Surgical, dominate the robotic surgery field.
Gary Pruden, who heads the Johnson & Johnson global
surgery group, said the collaboration with Google and J&J unit Ethicon
"is another important step in our commitment to advancing surgical care,
and together, we aim to put the best science, technology and surgical know-how
in the hands of medical teams around the world."
So far only announcement is made. The project will
have a long research and development phase and
it’s not clear at this time when the technology will be used in hospitals, and
for which procedures. We can hope google
will win the challenge of making robotic surgeries safer and also it
could actually make a difference in the medical world…
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