Mechatronics for Medical Robotics

source: site web du GdR Robotique

How to succeed in medical mechatronic development

Le GT1 a le plaisir de vous proposer un tutorial sur la conception mécatronique pour la robotique médicale, organisé avec le soutien des Labex ACTION et CAMI lundi 7 juillet dans le cadre de la conférence IEEE/ASME AIM 2014, organisée à Besançon. Les orateurs rassemblent des intervenants de laboratoires français impliqués dans la conception et la commande de systèmes robotiques pour la médecine et la chirurgie.

The development of robotic assistance for surgery and medicine has become a mature field of research, and today an increasing number of successful products is emerging on the market. Contrary to industrial robotics, medical and surgical robotics require custom hardware and software solutions for each device. Mechatronic design can indeed be hindered by the existence of close interactions with the physician or the surgeon, the safety concerns, the operating room constraints and the interactions with an in vivo environment.
In this tutorial, we aim at giving the audience some key elements to succeed in the development of a medical robotic assistance, and help to build a successful mechatronic approach. To do so, researchers with recognized expertise in design and control for the medical context will be gathered in this full day tutorial. Interactions during the tutorial will be encouraged. Specifically, the end of the day will be devoted to a poster session where the participants will have the opportunity to present ongoing projects, open issues related to a medical/surgical application, so that deeper discussions with the speakers and between the participants can be engaged. We anticipate the tutorial to be engaging to mechatronic designers involved in the development of the design and control of robotic devices. In particular, two categories of attendees will find the proposed tutorial useful:

• Students, who are interested in learning about the state of the art in mechatronics for medical and surgical applications,
• Industry technologists, that are involved or would like to develop projects in the field.

As a secondary audience, the tutorial will be of value for established researchers who wish to relate their work to this area. When: July 7th, 2014. Where: in Besançon, at the IEEE/ASME AIM 2014 conference.

Pierre Renaud (pierre.renaud AT insa-strasbourg.fr)

Nicolas Andreff (nicolas.andreff AT femto-st.fr)

Alzheimer’s disease predicted by a simple blood analysis

source: this website (to which all rights belong)

For the first time in decades of research aimed at cracking Alzheimer’s disease, a team led by Georgetown University Medical Center investigators has developed and validated a simple blood test that can predict which individuals will experience cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s disease in two or three years. The finding, published online (March 9th, 2014) in Nature Medicine, offers new hope for the development of drugs to delay or possibly prevent onset of the disease, for which there is currently no treatment. The numbers of people with Alzheimer’s are expected to explode – from 35.6 million worldwide today to an estimated 115.4 million by 2050.

Howard J. Federoff, MD, PD, professor of neurology and executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown University Medical Center, and his team of scientists found that a panel of 10 lipids—or fats—circulating in the blood could predict, with greater than 90 percent accuracy in the study population, which subjects would experience symptoms of cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s disease within three years. The five-year study followed 525 individuals in California and New York who were 70 years of age or older. Of the group, 46 were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s disease at the time they enrolled, and 28 went from having normal cognitive function to an impaired memory status during the study period. The blood test revealed marked differences in lipids between those who developed cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s, and those who developed no signs of disease. The team determined that the 10 predictive lipids were molecules emanating from the destruction of brain cells.

The knowledge that a cognitively normal participant in a clinical trial possesses this telltale lipid profile will allow drug developers to see if experimental agents can prevent the onset of memory impairment at an earlier stage. “There have been many efforts to develop drugs that were thought to modify the history of Alzheimer’s disease and sadly, all of them have failed. One of the reasons for this is that the agents were tested in patients who already have the disease and that is the wrong stage to evaluate disease-modifying therapies”, Federoff says. While it is premature to know if treatment for a few years before the onset dementia can make a difference, Federoff notes that “for the first time, the potential for drug therapy can be tested in a smart and rigorous way”. This is the first in what is expected to be a series of studies that will compare the molecular state in the brains of individuals with and without early signs of dementia. The researchers are closing in on what Federoff calls a “network of molecules that defines an at-risk individual”. One key finding is that the presence of the APOE4 gene, a known risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s, did not augment the diagnostic accuracy of the test.  This is important because it suggests that “in at-risk individuals, APOE is playing an insignificant small role” and that this new lipid test is “much more predictive.”

…further information watching this video!

all you need is MgCl2

In modern times like these, what does the 99% of people lack? Shut up, you naughty readers… the right answer is Magnesium Chloride 😉

Magnesium chloride, Wikipedia‘s words, “is the name for the chemical compounds with the formulas MgCl2 and its various hydrates MgCl2(H2O)x“. Highly water-soluble, it is usually extracted from brine, sea water and (via solution mining) out of ancient seabeds. Because of many factors (intensive farming techniques, food processing and refining, massive use of preservatives), the food we usually eat is deficient in magnesium, whose daily requirement is about 420/320 mg for the average adult man/woman. This website (in french) says that a diet without MgCl2 “is incompatible with life“… besides the slightly apocalyptic atmosphere that we might suddenly feel, magnesium is actually depicted as a truly essential mineral for human nutrition. “Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body“, says this other website… my dumb reaction to all these facts: ok, I didn’t know about that, but if it’s so important, why am I still alive? 😀

No, we’re not supposed to schedule an appointment with The Lord (each of us with their own one, of course..!), but it’s good to know that our body likes to point out deficiency in magnesium by means of the following main alarm symptoms: chronic fatigue and lack of energy, insomnia, confused and uncontrolled emotional reactions, rapid pulse and muscle spasms, nervousness and irritability, and so on. For sure it’s not a big deal, it’s something that, more or less, we experience from now to then… what has been scientifically proven is that reestablishing the correct magnesium body requirement has very positive healing effects on anxiety, muscular pains, asthenia (when, in the morning, you wake up and you already feel dead tired), blood and body infections, nervous and emotional well-being, digestion and a lot more things that colour our daily life 🙂

If you’re curious (I was), just go to the closest chemist’s/pharmacy/grocery store and ask for magnesium chloride. They’ll sell you a cheap 20 g sachet to be dissolved in 1 litre of water. It tastes pretty bad actually, very bitter (if cooled down in the fridge, it will be less unpleasant), but it’s totally tolerable since you’ll have 20 days to empty this magic bottle (and not half a day, as I thought. Do not try that, DO NOT!)

accepted for publication – EMBC 2014

The paper I submitted to EMBC 2014 has been accepted for publication! During my PhD thesis I’ve conceived a miniaturised actuation system to be embedded in the tibial component of an instrumented knee prosthesis for the evaluation and correction of collateral ligaments imbalance conditions in the postoperative period. A second model, feasible but bulkier, is considered as an alternative solution and is presented in this other publication. The sections Publications and Curriculum Vitae are now up-to-date.

Title: A Miniaturised Actuation System Embedded in an Instrumented Knee Implant for Postoperative Ligament Imbalance Correction

Authors: A. Collo, P. Poignet, C. Hamitouche, S. Almouahed, and E. Stindel

Abstract: During Total Knee Arthroplasty surgery, the orthopaedic surgeon has to set up proper balance conditions for the two lateral ligaments of the knee. Such ligament tensioning procedure is performed manually and mainly depends on the surgeon’s experience. Unfortunately, inaccuracies are unavoidable and may give rise to serious postoperative complications. In the worst-case scenario, the only solution to this problem is represented by revision surgery. In order to cope with this problem, this work proposes a novel instrumented tibial component able to detect knee imbalance conditions in the postoperative period. A miniaturised actuation system embedded in the tibial baseplate allows to restore optimal balance conditions without resorting to revision surgery.

Journée thématique gestes médico-chirurgicaux guidés par l’image

source: site du GdR Robotique

Dans le cadre du GT1 Robotique et Santé, en association avec le Thème F du GDR STIC-Santé, nous organisons une journée thématique traitant des gestes médico-chirurgicaux guidés par l’image. Cette journée aura lieu le jeudi 3 juillet 2014 à Paris, salle réunion BARRE ISIR (tour 65-66 – 304 – 3ème étage) de l’UPMC. Cette annonce est un appel à contributions.

L’utilisation de l’imagerie médicale pour guider les gestes en chirurgie et en médecine est aujourd’hui complètement généralisée. Quelle que soit la modalité d’imagerie, l’objectif est de réaliser des gestes très peu invasifs, de précision, limitant par ailleurs le trauma post-opératoire. On peut retrouver ces problématiques notamment en chirurgie guidée par imagerie endoscopique, ou en radiologie interventionnelle. Des pratiques associant chirurgie endoscopique et interventions percutanées sont par ailleurs en train d’émerger, sous la dénomination de chirurgie hybride. La robotique a de longue date fourni des solutions pour réaliser le guidage des instruments et assister ces procédures. Ce thème peut même être considéré comme central dans les préoccupations de la robotique médicale.

Nous organisons une journée pour faire un état des travaux récents et des sujets émergeant dans le domaine. Les propositions émanant de praticiens et de doctorants/post-doctorants sont particulièrement les bienvenues. Les doctorants, comme à chaque journée, peuvent solliciter un financement (typiquement transport) pour participer à cette journée.

Merci d’adresser vos propositions de présentations à:
Bernard Bayle -> bernard.bayle [AT] unistra.fr
Guillaume Morel -> morel [AT] isir.upmc.fr
Tanneguy Redarce -> tanneguy.redarce [AT] insa-lyon.fr