Researchers have developed a tiny magnetic robot that can take 3D scans from deep within the body and could revolutionise early cancer detection.
Researchers have developed a tiny magnetic robot that can take 3D scans from deep within the body and could revolutionise early cancer detection.
The team, led by engineers from the University of Leeds, says this is the first time high-resolution three-dimensional ultrasound images taken from a probe deep inside the gastrointestinal tract, or gut, have been generated.
It paves the way to transforming the diagnosis and treatment of several forms of cancer by enabling ‘virtual biopsies’ – noninvasive scans that provide immediate diagnostic data. These scans allow doctors to detect, stage, and potentially treat lesions in a single procedure, eliminating the need for physical biopsies.
The perhaps surprising key to the team’s success was using a little-known 3D shape, the oloid. This gave the magnetic medical robot a previously impossible range of motion – the roll, essential for precise navigation and imaging inside the body.
Read more at University of Leeds
