Months after surgeons in the United Kingdom completed the first robotic retina surgery to perform macular peel and place a gene vector, researchers in Belgium have used a surgical robot to place a microneedle into a retinal vein to inject a thrombolytic agent to treat retinal vein occlusion.

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This surgical robot guided a 0.03-mm needle into the occluded retinal vein.
esearchers at the University Hospitals Leuven and the Catholic University Leuven (known as KU Leuven for its Dutch spelling) developed the robot specifically for this procedure.
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 The surgeons used the robot to guide placement of a 0.03-mm needle into the vein.

According to the research team, led by Peter Stalmans, MD, at University Hospital Leuven, and Dominiek Reynaerts, PhD, chair of mechanical engineering at KU Leuven, the procedure successfully treated the occlusion. The current Phase I trial aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using a robotic device to insert a microneedle into the retinal vein to inject ocriplasmin.

The procedure could be a cost-effective alternative to existing treatments, Dr. Stalmans says. “Current treatment for retinal vein occlusion costs 32,000 euro per eye (about $34,000), a high price tag, especially if you know that you are only treating the side effects and that there is little more you can do than avoid decreasing eye sight,” he says. “The robotic device enables us to treat the cause of the thrombosis in the retina for the first time.”

Dr. Reynaerts says the goal is to use the robotic device to perform other procedures.

The next step is to conduct a Phase II trial to determine if the procedure is clinically effective for RVO.

Late last year, surgeons at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, U.K., performed the first robotic retina operation using a device developed by the Dutch medical robotics firm Preceyes BV.  RS