Robotics in neurointervention: the promise and the reality

Abstract

This issue of the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery ( JNIS ) features the first three reports of robotic assistance in neuroendovascular procedures. Pereira and colleagues present the first-in-man, robotic-assisted, intracranial aneurysm treatment.1 Nogueira and co-authors report the first four human patients treated with robotic-assisted carotid stenting.2 Finally, Sajja et al describe their experience in diagnostic angiography, including transradial approaches, and carotid stenting in a series of 10 patients.3 In concept, this nascent technology holds tremendous promise for our field. The ability to use robots to deliver remote, interventional stroke care in rural and other less densely populated areas is a potential solution to one of the greatest challenges facing emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO) patients. If successfully implemented, this technology could improve patient outcomes and revolutionize stroke care worldwide. In the three reports published this month, operators performed robotic-assisted, neurodiagnostic and interventional procedures with the robotic console located just outside of the neuroangiography suite. All three studies employed the CorPath GFX system (Corindus Inc, Waltham, MA). The authors point out that these feasibility demonstrations are the first iterative steps toward this ultimate vision of remote stroke care. For locally performed neurointerventional procedures, the primary potential advantage of robotic assistance for the patient relates to the ability of the operator to perform precise device manipulations that are beyond …