Recently, the internationally renowned cardiovascular expert and Director of Cardiology at Zhongshan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, Academician Ge Junbo, successfully completed a coronary intervention bifurcation lesion animal experiment using the pan-vascular interventional surgical robotfrom Shenzhen AiBo Medical Robot Co., Ltd. The aiboAngio pan-vascular interventional surgical robot is designed to be applicable to various coronary lesion interventions. The successful completion of this bifurcation lesion animal experiment demonstrates the aiboAngio’s outstanding capability in handling complex coronary lesions.
Before the animal experiment began, Academician Ge Junbo led team members Professor Shen Li and Professor Pei Zhiqiang in a thorough discussion with the team from AiBo Medical Robot Co. about the stage progress of product development and the animal experiment. Academician Ge shared his deep insights into the development direction of vascular interventional surgical robots: “Starting from the ultimate clinical needs, based on a solid foundational design framework, and integrating current developments in AI, imaging technology, and smart sensors, we aim to create a high-level homogenized pan-vascular intervention tool that can benefit more patients.”
Academician Ge believes that the aiboAngio has made significant explorations in terms of controllability, instrument compatibility, and the extendability of surgical strategies. He looks forward to using this foundation to achieve deep integration of medical and engineering fields in the innovative medical device sector and to develop leading products in the vascular interventional surgical robot industry. Finally, he stated that the earlier animal experiments and clinical trials of AiBo Medical Robot have proven its excellent performance. Whether it can complete more complex coronary interventions will be tested throughout the full process of coronary bifurcation lesion intervention treatment.
In the animal experiment laboratory, the staff swiftly completed the robot setup and pre-operative preparations for the experimental pig following the clinical surgery process, and then Academician Ge officially began the surgery.
Once the surgery started, Academician Ge first controlled AiBo’s unique manipulator, quickly advancing a mudfish guide wire (180 cm) and a guide catheter (SAL 0.75) to the left coronary ostium of the experimental pig’s heart for angiography and position adjustment. Then, a technician installed the first PTCA micro-wire (Terumo Runthrough NS, 0.014in) as the main branch wire at the distal end. Academician Ge continued to operate the robot from the control room, sending the PTCA micro-wire to the distal end of the left anterior descending (main branch), and along the wire, a balloon-expandable stent (coronary rapamycin-eluting cobalt-based alloy stent system, 2.75 mm*18 mm) was positioned so that the stent’s rear end covered the ostium of the diagonal branch (side branch). After confirming the positioning with angiography, the stent was successfully released in one go. The entire procedure, from guide catheter introduction to stent positioning and release, took about 15 minutes.
After the stent implantation, a second PTCA micro-wire (Terumo Runthrough NS, 0.014in) was installed as the side branch wire by the technician, and Academician Ge continued to operate the robot, threading the side branch micro-wire through the stent struts into the diagonal branch. To verify the robot-assisted operation’s precision and repeatability, Academician Ge withdrew and reinserted the wire through the stent struts, successfully threading it each time. Then, a balloon catheter (PTCA balloon dilatation catheter, 2.0 mm*20 mm) was advanced along this wire into the diagonal branch, positioned at the near end of the branch, and confirmed with angiography before completing the balloon expansion of the side branch. This segment of the operation took less than 10 minutes.
Following the smooth completion of these surgical procedures, Academician Ge fully affirmed the controllability of the AiBo pan-vascular surgery robot and proposed using the robot to attempt a double-balloon kissing technique, timing the procedure again to repeat the sequence and verify the machine’s repeatability. In coronary intervention surgery, implementing the double-balloon kissing technique is a basic technology when opting for a dual stent implantation strategy for treating bifurcation lesions. Academician Ge controlled the AiBo pan-vascular surgery robot to send the main branch wire to the distal end of the left anterior descending, and after pre-dilation at the stent site, the main branch balloon was also positioned at the distal end of the left anterior descending; the side branch wire was smoothly threaded through the stent struts into the diagonal branch, and the side branch balloon catheter was positioned at the near end of the branch, completing the pre-dilation. Finally, the main branch balloon was withdrawn, and the kissing balloons were completed. The entire process was executed seamlessly in just 22 minutes!
This animal experiment smoothly demonstrated the use of the AiBo pan-vascular interventional robot for treating coronary bifurcation lesions, verifying that the aiboAngio operates simply, with high surgical efficiency and safety. It also proved the aiboAngio’s powerful capability in handling complex coronary lesions, suitable for various coronary lesion interventions.
After the surgery, Academician Ge Junbo fully recognized the many innovative points of the AiBo product that hold independent intellectual property rights and encouraged the AiBo team to seize the opportunity to strive to become the “definers” of the vascular interventional surgical robot industry. He expressed that he and his team would continue to support the further development of AiBo Medical Robots, jointly developing vascular interventional surgical robots that provide high-quality, standardized treatment services for patients.
Since its establishment, AiBo Medical Robots has reached a cooperation intention with the team of Academician Ge Junbo, Director of Cardiology at Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, and in December 2022, the two parties achieved strategic cooperation on “joint development of pan-vascular interventional surgical robots” and held a grand launch ceremony. Both sides will rely on the National Center for Clinical Research on Radiation and Treatment to conduct deep medical-engineering collaboration in product design, development, animal experiments, and clinical registration, promoting the development of the vascular interventional surgical robot industry.
