The Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Biomedical Robot (Abrobo)—through close medical-engineering collaboration with Jianmin Liu’s team at Changhai Hospital (Shanghai, China)—has validated its Panvis Star robotic system via five neurointerventional procedures involving animal models, with these preclinical study findings recently being published in the Journal of Robotic Surgery.
Abrobo claims that, to its knowledge, its new-generation vascular interventional surgical robot technology and product platform—designed for neurointerventional diagnostic and therapeutic procedures—is the first system to achieve simultaneous coaxial control of three catheters and one guidewire, and is also capable of operating rapid-exchange devices like balloons and balloon-expandable stents. In addition, Panvis Star is fully compatible with various kinds of standard neurointerventional devices—including catheters, microcatheters, balloons and stents—which provides the mechanical basis for multi-device collaborative procedures, according to Abrobo.
In a porcine model, full-process validation was completed for five major categories of procedures: cerebral angiography and establishment of therapeutic access, aneurysm coil embolisation, flow diverter (FD) deployment, vertebral artery stenting, and carotid artery stenting. All procedures were successful, with no device-related complications or vascular injury, and usage of the robotic system was shown to be technically feasible without increasing procedural complexity. The entire process—from guidewire and catheter ‘super-selective’ navigation to implant deployment—was performed by the robot, while manual operations were limited to catheter sheath insertion, device exchange, and loading in a radiation-free environment.
Panvis Star is said to feature a master-slave collaborative architecture. The master control console can be deployed outside the interventional suite, allowing the operator to work while free from radiation exposure. The bedside execution unit adapts to the interventional environment, supports multi-dimensional adjustment, and accommodates both radial and femoral access, Abrobo states in a press release.
Outlining limitations of the present study, the company notes that it represents a pilot experiment performed in a limited sample size of three porcine models, and without a manual control group, adding that larger-scale trials with clinical and follow-up endpoints are still needed for further validation of efficacy and safety.
“The capability for simultaneous multi-device management opens up robotic applications for emergency scenarios such as mechanical thrombectomy in acute ischaemic stroke and emergency embolisation for aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage; the team has completed a validation study of long-distance remote robot-assisted emergency surgery,” Abrobo’s press release notes.
