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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Asian J Neurosurg 2024; 19(04): 598-609
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1790606
Review Article

Evolution of Robotics in Neurosurgery

Salman T. Shaikh
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Salford Royal Hospital, Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences, United Kingdom
,
T.A. Dwarakanath
2   Section for Intelligent Machines and Robotics, Division of Remote Handling & Robotics, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
,
Aliasgar V. Moiyadi
3   Neurosurgical Oncology Services, Department of Surgical oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, India
4   Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
› Author Affiliations Funding The project was supported by a grant from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India [BARC/IFB/2018-19/737]. Dr. Salman Shaikh received stipend as part of the same grant when he was working as a Fellow at Tata Memorial Hospital.
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Abstract

Technology and neurosurgery have gone hand in hand since a long time. Technological development of robotics in neurosurgery over the last couple of decades has been rapid, yet it still has a long way to go before it becomes a “routine” element of the standard neurosurgical procedure. Apart from the obvious advantages they have over humans, that is, precision, consistency, endurance, and reproducibility, robots also provide additional freedom of movement beyond what is anatomically feasible for humans. Since its first practical application in 1985, the promise of robotics has spurred development and design of numerous such devices for application in neurosurgery. In the current era, the role of robots in neurosurgery is limited to programming movements and planning trajectories for deep cranial targets, biopsies, spinal screw placements, deep brain stimulation, and stereotactic radiosurgery. This narrative, nonsystematic review discusses the evolution of various robotic systems, with a focus on their neurosurgical applications.

Keywords

robotic neurosurgery - computer-aided surgery - image-guided surgery - minimally invasive neurosurgery - evolution

Authors' Contributions

S.T.S. contributed to literature review, journal formatting, and figure and table formatting. T.A.D. contributed to the review of article. A.V.M. conceptualized the article and contributed to the review and final proofreading of the manuscript.




Publication History

Article published online:
27 September 2024

© 2024. Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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