“A micro-robot that can travel into women’s fallopian tubes and drill out obstructions, allowing them to conceive, is being developed by scientists,” reports The Telegraph:
Blockages between ovaries and womb that prevent sperm from reaching the egg are one of the major causes of infertility in women.
The new device, developed by Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) in China, shaped like a tiny self-tapping screw, is activated by a magnetic field which allows it to rotate.
As the screw turns, it breaks up any obstructions, and also generates a vortex which sucks debris back towards its tail and out of the way….The team has been trialling the device in glass tubes mimicking the fallopian tube and found it can successfully clear away clusters of cells blocking its path. Similar cell clusters are seen in women who struggle to ovulate.
Doctors are also beginning to do womb transplants. Last year, a woman who was previously unable to have children received her sister’s womb in the first womb transplant in the United Kingdom.
Nature reported last year that human trials of artificial wombs could start soon. The purpose is to provide a womb-like environment for babies born prematurely, to enable them to survive and avoid lifelong problems like brain damage or asthma. Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia “are seeking approval for the first human clinical trials” of the artificial womb “they’ve been testing.”
Scientists have developed tiny robots made of human cells to repair damaged cells. And “in a major advancement in nanomedicine, Arizona State University scientists…have successfully programmed nanorobots to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply.”
Last year, doctors did the first robotic liver transplant in America. Robots can fit in small spaces in people’s bodies that a surgeon can’t reach without cutting through living tissue, or doing other collateral damage. Doctors also used a robot to carry out incredibly complex spinal surgery.
