City hospital conducts live angioplasty demo using robotic arm

Mumbai, May 10 (UNI) The Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital here today conducted a live angioplasty demonstration using a robotic arm.

With this, the hospital has become one of the world's few centers of excellence to carry out research on this exciting international breakthrough.

The robotic arm allows remote manipulation of Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI).

As a part of the multicentric clinical evaluation for US FDA approval, the hospital's interventional cardiologists Dr Ganesh Kumar and Dr Ajay Chaurasia are chosen as principal investigator and co-investigator respectively to conduct this study in India.

The robotic remote control PCI system not only helps patients to avail services of their preferred doctors over large distances but also helps physicians, operate in an X Ray-free and relaxed environment with lesser chances of spinal risk, thereby increasing the ability of the operator to deal with long procedural hours.

In contrast to the present angioplasty process that requires two cardiologists, the robotic remote control procedure can be conducted without any need for assistance, making the process more efficient and also reducing chances of operator-based errors.

Addressing the media today, Dr Kumar said, ''What was science fiction yesterday is fast becoming reality. I am hopeful that the day is not far away when robotic remote control angioplasty will be the preferred procedure in coronary care, bringing many far-reaching advantages to the public.'' UNI LS PD/MAZ BDP HT1735