Boston Children's Hospital Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Two-armed surgical robot prototype targets pediatric brain tumors

The endoscopic brain robot’s arms are each 2.8 mm in diameter and 35 mm long when fully extended. Together, they offer a 43 mm diameter workspace. [Image courtesy of Boston Children’s Hospital]

Researchers say they’ve developed a surgical robot for removing brain tumors in children, and that it could also offer a less invasive, safer option for adult neurosurgery and other procedures.

The trick is using hollow, nitinol robot arms to allow neurosurgeons to swap tools during a tumor resection procedure, said Pierre DuPont. He’s the chief of pediatric cardiac bioengineering at Boston Children’s Hospital, and the corresponding author of a new research paper detailing the potential advantages of a two-armed neuroendoscopic robot.

In an interview with Medical Design & Outsourcing, DuPont traced the project back to conversations with Dr. Jim Drake, chief of neurosurgery at Sick…

Boston Children’s to conduct FDA-approved studies of heart valve that grows as children do

Studies have shown the Autus Valve maintains control of blood flow as it expands. [Image courtesy of Boston Children’s Hospital]

Boston Children’s Hospital says it began conducting FDA-approved early clinical studies of its heart valve that expands over time.

In 2020, the hospital published research on its innovative heart valve design. It could allow children to maintain the same prosthetic heart valve until adulthood. This could also benefit adults with heart valve defects. The hospital calls it the “Autus Valve.”

Boston Children’s developed the valve because children with congenital heart disease receive fixed-size valves. These require multiple open-heart surgeries during childhood to replace valves with larger versions. Early simulations and animal tasting demonstrated successes through a range of sizes. They also showed retained functionality when expanded by a minimally inv…

Boston Children’s Hospital, ElevateBio enter 5-year cell, gene therapy collaboration

Boston Children’s Hospital announced today that it partnered with ElevateBio for a five-year cell and gene therapy advancement program.

The collaborative agreement will seek to advance cell and gene therapy programs originating out of Boston Children’s Hospital with an introduction to Boston Children’s translational research capabilities.

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