Singapore, May 19: The first robot able to perform prostate biopsies has been developed by researchers in Singapore, two institutions said today. The ''Biopsy Robot'' will help doctors by delivering needles more accurately and cutting down on human error, according to a team from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore General Hospital (SGH). Small samples of prostate tissue are removed for examination under a microscope by using a needle-tipped device. Doctors have been manually manipulating the needles based on ultrasound images.
''It's like shooting an arrow from the bow but not knowing where the arrow will go,'' Dr. Christopher Cheng, head of SGH's urology department, said.

''The doctor might be able to hit 90 per cent of all the spots, but if he hasn't slept the night before, the results could be affected,'' Cheng said. Using the same computer algorithms, the robot can deliver the needle to within 1.5 millimeters of each intended target spot.

The team of 15 researchers has spent more than two years working on the project and has filed a provisional patent in the United States. In the future, ''it could even be adapted to implant radioactive seeds accurately within the prostate to cure cancer'', Cheng was quoted as saying.
Bureau Report