Robots for early detection of cancer
Early detection of cancer is crucial: it increases the chances of successful treatment, allows for a patient-tailored approach, lowers mortality rates, and improves life expectancy for cancer patients. By using robotics and advanced imaging technologies, researchers at the Robotics Centre of the University of Twente are developing ways to detect cancer at an early stage. This not only leads to more precise, but also less invasive treatments for patients.
Françoise Siepel, a Robotics and Mechatronics Lab researcher, plays a key role in this research. Working with various clinical and commercial partners, such as Radboud UMC, Deventer Hospital, and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, she is developing innovations that enable the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Her research focuses on three specific applications of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), which represent a major healthcare step forward.
Her research mainly focuses on concentric tube robots for flexible internal procedures, robotic arms for external surgeries, and patient-specific (biopsy) robots. Below are some examples:
New approach for diagnosing bladder cancer
Doctors currently use cystoscopy to detect bladder cancer. In this procedure, a thin tube with a camera (cystoscope) is inserted through the urethra into the bladder to inspect its inside. This allows doctors to detect abnormalities such as tumours.
Siepel and her team are working on an innovative solution: Concentric Tube Robots (CTRs). These are flexible robots that can move and navigate within hollow organs, like the bladder. Combined with an advanced imaging technique, optical coherence tomography (OCT), which uses light to reflect off different layers of tissue and analyse these reflections, doctors can work much more accurately. This combination of robotics and imaging allows for very precise localisation of tumours in the bladder. This reduces the chance of misinterpretation and enables treatments to be more accurate and less invasive.
Autonomously navigating robots
Robots are already used in hospitals for certain surgeries. However, the movements of these robots are not performed by the robot itself but are controlled by a surgeon via a specialised control panel. Siepel and her colleagues are developing new control methods that allow robots to navigate independently in unknown environments, such as when treating cancer in the abdomen, bladder, and breast using robotic arms. This gives the doctor optimal support, allowing them to focus on the diagnosis and the patient.
To make this possible, these robots use a technique called ‘Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping’, or SLAM. This allows them to create a map of their environment while simultaneously determining their own position on it. Combined with real-time surface reconstruction, the robots can navigate accurately and avoid obstacles. This is especially useful in complex and unknown environments, like the human body, where visibility is often limited during cancer treatments.
Robot-guided precision in needle placement
To diagnose cancer, doctors use a needle to remove a small piece of tissue, known as a biopsy, for examination in the lab. This must be done very accurately, meaning the needle must be placed precisely in the right spot. Siepel’s research group combines robot-guided ultrasound images with highly sensitive MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). This combination of imaging techniques ensures that the needle can be placed with sub-millimetre precision.
Thanks to this technology, tumours can be targeted very precisely and safely, which is important for both diagnosis and treatment. This approach makes the procedure less invasive and helps doctors obtain the most reliable results.
Healthcare innovation through European collaboration
At the European level, Françoise Siepel plays an important role in the development of medical robotics. She leads DIH-HERO, a platform for healthcare robotics that connects innovation hubs in 23 countries. This network promotes collaboration between different countries and organisations with the aim of further developing medical robotic technologies and implementing them in hospitals more quickly.
Through the exchange of knowledge and experience via this platform, new innovations in robotics are tested and applied in practice faster. This allows patients across Europe to benefit from the latest developments in robot-assisted healthcare.