Skip to content 
Coronary angioplasty is a procedure that involves the placing of balloons and/or stents inside a blocked artery, to help widen it and allow for better blood flow. This is usually a manual process, wherein a highly skilled interventional cardiologist performs the procedure on the patient. However, with the recent breakthrough in robotic technology and AI learning, physicians can now perform a robotic-assisted coronary interventions.
In a robotic-assisted intervention, the trained cardiologist sits in a radiation-shielded workstation and uses a set of joysticks and touchscreen controls that translate the physician’s movements into device control. The specialist is then able to maneuver the robot and precisely conduct the procedure. Robotic-assisted intervention helps the specialist with its precise measurements of anatomy and device positioning down to a millimeter.
FAQ
Is robotic angioplasty better than conventionally carried out angioplasty?
- We need to specify what is the definition of “better”. Manual manipulation of coronary devices during angioplasty is still the default procedure in centres without robotic set up. But with more centres installing robotic assisted system and with physicians trained to become expert operators, this technology will be used more frequently. Maybe one can draw an analogy with driving. We used to drive manual stick shift cars but most of us drive automatic these days and some of us are already exploring self-driving vehicles.
