A Chennai-based company specialising in robotic assistance solutions in oncology has rolled out a new version of a cancer-fighting robot that can obliterate tumours more precisely, effectively and safely.
The Maxio series of robots designed and developed by Perfint Healthcare Corporation bring to the oncologist's table a wholly integrated planning, navigation and site-targeting system for CT-guided tumour ablation.
The Maxio was recently launched at Delhi by Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Innovation Council.
The Maxio's cancer-fighting capabilities come in most handy in interventional oncology, especially tumour ablation that is rapidly turning an effective alternative to surgical treatment of cancer. In fact, tumour ablation is in many cases the go-to option for oncologists faced with inoperable or inaccessible tumours, and this holds especially true in the case of liver cancer patients of whom barely 20 per cent are suited for surgery.
With visualisation, planning and needle placement key to delivering thermal or other energy beams to blast the tumour, the Maxio helps clinicians perform the ablation procedure safely and with consistent quality outcomes.
According to Perfint founder-CEO Nandakumar Subburaman, the company's goal was to create a solution that would make life-saving ablation procedures available to a greater number of cancer patients. “To do that, we realised that the complex techniques used by interventional radiologists would have to be made simpler and more predictable. That's what we've done with Maxio,” he said.
According to Perfint, Maxio combines tumour visualisation in 3D view-fields and during the planning stage, clinicians can see the tumour and surrounding structures, determine the best approach to reach the site and choose the appropriate number and type of energy probe. The robot will also help visualise the estimate ablation volumes and determine the sequence of probe placement.
Large scale adoption
Maxio, which was developed under the Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme of the Department of Biotechnology, is awaiting regulatory approvals to foray into global markets.
The robot's workflow and robotic targeting systems provide the platform for large scale adoption of tumour ablation at relatively low costs in populous societies and emerging economies.
A few months ago, the company had donated to the Adyar Cancer Centre the Robio EZ —a big evolutionary step after its basic level Piga robot put together in 2007 —that helps image-guided needle placement to obtain biopsy samples and perform radio frequency ablations to destroy malignant tissue in the liver, lungs or kidneys.
