Automated drill technology ‘could offer benefits in surgery’

Researchers are developing a new type of robotic drilling technology that could make surgery faster and more effective in future.

A University of Utah team have created a low-cost drill from scratch to meet the needs of neurosurgical units, accompanied by software to set a safe cutting path that can be followed automatically.

Patients can be imaged using a CT scan to gather bone data and identify the exact location of sensitive structures such as nerves and major blood vessels, before using this information to program the cutting path of the drill.

The machine was shown to accelerate complex cranial surgery 50-fold compared to standard procedures, decreasing the time taken from two hours to just two-and-a-half minutes.

Moreover, the drill was shown to produce fast, clean, and safe cuts, reducing the time the wound is open and the patient is anaesthetised, meaning the chances of infection and human error are minimised and costs are kept low.

Dr William Couldwell, a neurosurgeon at the University of Utah, said: "This drill can be used for a variety of surgeries, like machining the perfect receptacle opening in the bone for a hip implant."

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