Wireless millirobots successfully navigate blood vessels, piercing blood clots along the way

Description

undefinedFor the first time ever, wireless millirobots swam through a narrow blood vessel, both with and against the flow of blood. Using a robotically controlled rotating magnet, researchers from the University of Twente and Radboud University Medical Center guided helical robots through a detached aorta with kidneys. The researchers recently received a grant from Health Holland to further develop the technology for removing blood clots.

Conditions caused by blood clots have high mortality rates. A blood clot blocks a blood vessel, preventing the blood from supplying oxygen to certain parts of the body. Surgeons still use flexible instruments to remove the blood clot and get the blood flowing again, but some parts of the body are difficult to reach. With their small size, the small robots can reach these places.