Dental Tribune Middle East & Arica Edition

4Page 6 Media CME Vital amputation of permanent teeth 4Page 8 Business Dental practice in Japan goes Kitty-crazy 4Page 4 Trends & Applications Dental X-rays can predict fractures 2 Hours DENTAL TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Newspaper · Middle East & Africa Edition PUBLISHED IN DUBAI January, 2012 NO. 1 VOL. 10 BRUSSELS, Belgium: An EU-fundedteamofresearchers has developed a robot able to help neurosurgeons in per- forming keyhole brain surgery. The robot was tested for its ac- curate performance during testsondummies.Theteambe- lieves it can be used to help physicians treat their patients for epilepsy, Tourette’s syn- drome and Parkinson’s dis- ease. The robot is claimed to have incrediblememoryandaccuracy in performance, especially be- causeithas13typesofmovement comparedwiththefouravailable tohumanhands,aswellashaptic feedback—physical cues allow- ing physicians to assess tissue and perceive the amount of force applied during surgery. The ROBOCAST (Robot and sensors integration as guidance for enhanced computer assisted surgery and therapy) project re- ceived €3.45 million under the “Information and communica- tion technologies” theme of the EU’s Seventh Framework Pro- gramme. Led by the Politecnico di Mi- lano university in Italy, the ROBOCAST partners developed hardware experts call mecha- tronics, which constructs the ro- bot’sbodyandnervoussystem,as well as intelligence software. The software comprises a multi- plerobotsystem,anindependent trajectory planner, an advanced controller and a set of field sen- sors. The ROBOCAST consortium developed the mechatronic phase of the project as a modular system with two robots and one active biomimetic probe. These were integrated into a sensory motor framework to run as one unit. The first robot has the ability to locate its miniature compan- ion robot through six degrees of freedom, and moves from left to right, up and down, and back- wards and forwards. It also has three rotational movements, namely forwards and back- wards,sidetoside,orlefttoright. These all work together to locate the robot’s companion anywhere in a 3-D space. The robot, say the researchers, can also ease the tremor of a surgeon’s hands up to tenfold. The miniature robot holds theprobethatisusedthroughthe keyhole. According to the re- searchers, optical trackers are located at the end of the probe and on the patient. The force ap- plied is managed by the robot, which also controls the position using a combination of sensors. This allows it to determine the trajectory of the surgical work. According to the developers, the path the robot follows inside the brain is determined on the basis of a risk atlas and the evalu- ation of preoperative diagnostic information. The ROBOCAST team com- prises experts from Germany, Is- rael, Italy and the UK. Future re- search plans include investigat- ing robotic neurosurgery for pa- tients who would remain con- scious during their surgery. DT Researchers develop robot that performs brain surgery AD The Emirates Diabetes Society's 'Win Over Dia- betes' mobile clinic is in its final preparations to begin its journey across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the first visit taking place in the rural area of Al Lusaily, between Dubai and Al Ain, on Saturday 28 January. InauguratedinDubailastDe- cember at the prestigious Inter- national Diabetes Federation- sponsored World Diabetes Con- gress, the mobile clinic patient initiativewillactasaneducation, disease consultation and treat- Gulf's first ever mobile diabetes clinic prepares for tour launch