Source 丨21 Healthnews21 original work
Author 丨Ji Yuanyuan
Editor 丨Xu Xu
Image source 丨 Figureworm
Recently, the first intelligent needleless injection vaccine robot in China was officially launched, which was jointly developed by Shanghai Tongji University and Feixi Technology and Kuaishuer Medical.
According to the researchers to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter introduced, the core inspiration of this robot is the excellent tolerance and injection experience of fast Shuer medical needleless injection technology, combined with the three-dimensional model recognition algorithm of the human body independently developed by Non-Xi, it can automatically and accurately identify the designated vaccine injection position on the person, and after ensuring sufficient injection conditions, the robotic arm will accurately control the contact force and pressure of the injection site. Instantaneously push the liquid to disperse under the skin within 0.3 seconds, and during the peak period of vaccination, there are needle injections that may bring risks such as needle breakage and scratches even on the hands of skilled caregivers.
Field researchers told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that the most core link of artificial intelligence in the medical industry is to produce clinical-grade products, and rigorous scientific clinical trials must be used to prove its safety and efficacy before it can be used in the clinic, so as to better help medical care and patients. In the mainland, intelligent robot technology has tended to mature, and the research and development capabilities of many domestic institutions are in the world's leading position, but the combination of needleless technology and intelligent robots is the first attempt in China, how to better combine and serve the clinic, which is a problem that requires multiple parties to overcome.
Medical robots can be combined with needle-free injections
The robot was named "Houyi", which is also the product of the first combination of artificial intelligence and needleless injection technology in the mainland.
In addition, based on the world's leading three-dimensional model recognition algorithm of the human body and adaptive robot technology, combined with the design of mechatronic needleless syringe, jointly developed by a number of technology enterprises and the China Cardiovascular Doctor Innovation Club, this is the first time that this complete technical verification scheme has been released in China.
According to Qi Peng, associate professor of Tongji University, the reason why this needleless injection robot is named "Houyi" is mainly for two reasons. "On the one hand, we have entered the post-epidemic era, 'Houyi' is the harmonic sound of 'post-epidemic', and vaccines are an important way for us to fight the virus; on the other hand, 'Houyi' is our traditional myth of the sun-shooting hero, and naming the needleless injection robot Houyi can also highlight the effectiveness and accuracy of this technology." Qi Peng said.
According to the live demonstration, the robot injection process is roughly divided into three steps. First of all, the automatic vaccine injection robot will shoot the human body through a simple three-dimensional point cloud camera, quickly and automatically fit the three-dimensional model of the corresponding part of the human body, and accurately identify the vaccine injection site and injection angle. Secondly, the multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arm adaptively completes the flexible automation operation. The robotic arm applies a high-precision force control lamination algorithm to ensure that the end of the syringe fits closely and vertically to the injection site, improving the injection effect and reducing the pain experience.
In addition, the needleless injection part of the robot can pass through the high-pressure water column, pushing the agent through a very fine nozzle, forming a jet that passes through the skin at high speed and directly into the treatment site. The drug tube is sterile for single use, which is discarded after injection to ensure safe use. Since the water column is very thin, it can be said that it is almost painless, and since there is no needle, trauma and cross-infection due to needles can also be avoided.
Medical robots belong to the special service robot classification in service robots, which refers to semi-autonomous or fully autonomous robots applied to hospitals, clinics or auxiliary medical treatment, which can complete service work beneficial to human health, but does not include equipment engaged in production activities. Specifically, it can be divided into four categories: surgical robots, rehabilitation robots, auxiliary robots and medical service robots.
In recent years, the medical robot industry in mainland China has developed rapidly, and it can be seen from the relevant bidding data that the industry is gradually hot, and the market segment has shown "comprehensive" development. According to the statistics of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, the mainland medical robots have maintained a high-speed growth trend in recent years, and the size of the mainland medical robot market in 2019 was 620 million US dollars, an increase of 34.8% over the previous year. In 2020, the size of the mainland medical robot market is expected to reach 860 million US dollars.
In addition, the Prospective Industry Research Institute analyzed that with the continuous advancement of domestic medical robot research and development, China's medical robots began to enter the stage of independent research and development and innovation, and under the outbreak of the epidemic in early 2020, the effectiveness of medical robots in the medical system began to stand out, and more and more hospitals began to purchase medical robots.
In fact, at the end of November 2021, the world's first intelligent injectable vaccine robot was first launched by Canadian startup Cobionix, who said that the development of needleless intelligent robots is designed to alleviate labor shortages in healthcare, but it is still only a working prototype and may take two years or more to go to market. In the same year, the world's first DNA new crown vaccine "ZyCoV-D" launched by India chose a needle-free injection method, and the developers said that needle-free injection can capture the DNA particles of the vaccine more effectively than needle injection.
What are the advantages of needle-free injection?
Especially in the current clinical diagnosis and treatment behavior, medical robots have been widely used. However, leaving aside the intelligent robot, is needleless injection really so magical? Many people are afraid of injections, can future vaccinations achieve needle-free injections? In China, what is the prospect of the needle-free injection market? This series of issues has also attracted much attention.
According to on-site researchers, at present, needle-free injection is mainly used in endocrinology, and has entered the clinical diagnosis and treatment of diabetes, growth hormone and other clinical treatment for many years, especially in the field of diabetes.
Zhao Fang, director of the Diabetes Committee of the Chinese Nursing Association, introduced that insulin injection technology uses a needleless syringe, and through the principle of high-pressure jet, insulin can be directly injected into the patient's skin through micropores without the help of any other substance. Because there is no needle, the risk of needle puncture injury in the clinical clinic of insulin injection can be completely solved. Needle-free injections, also known as "gentle injections", have been rolled out globally by the World Health Organization for many years.
"Needleless syringes do not have needles, reducing the risk of patients self-injection, but also eliminating the risk of needle puncture injuries of nursing staff, and even indirectly reducing the occurrence of doctor-patient conflicts." Zhao Fang said.
Needlestick injuries are one of the most common occupational injuries in the work of medical staff, and more than 30 life-threatening pathogens can be transmitted through needles.
An estimated 3 million health care workers worldwide are injured by needle each year from contaminated needles, resulting in 1,000 new hive, 66,000 HBV and 16,000 new HCV infections each year. China is a big country with diabetes, with a huge patient base and the demand for diabetic drug injections, how to protect caregivers who perform high-frequency injection operations from the harm of needlestick injuries deserves widespread attention.
From September 2016 to September 2017, the Diabetes Professional Committee of the Chinese Nursing Association led the launch of the "China Diabetes Drug Injection Related Needle Prick Survey", which covered a total of 10,447 questionnaires in 339 hospitals in 31 provinces, municipalities directly under the Central Government and autonomous regions across the country, of which 9873 were valid questionnaires, with an effective rate of 94.5%. The main results of the study are as follows: 39.1% of the nurses participating in the study have had needle puncture injuries while injecting insulin; the incidence of acupuncture injuries related to insulin pen needles in the past year is 139.5 times per 1000 people, and the economic cost of each acupuncture injury is between 1884 and 2389 yuan.
In addition, relevant studies have confirmed that needle-free injection of DNA vaccines is well tolerated, the size of the ELISpot (enzyme-linked immune spot detection) reaction in the needle-free group increased by about 3 times, and the Titer of Env-specific antibodies increased by 10 times. In an experiment evaluating the acceptability of needle-free syringes for low-dose polio inactivated vaccines, the results showed that vaccinators and caregivers received needle-free syringes as (578/592 [97.6%] and 4792/4813 [99.6%]), showing a strong preference, particularly in terms of ease of use, appearance, and children's response to vaccination.
According to Chen Suning, a needleless injection researcher and head of product and design of Beijing Kuaishuer Medical Technology Co., Ltd., to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, the needleless syringe with the help of internal pressure storage, in the instantaneous high-pressure state, the liquid medicine is gathered into a very fine liquid column, from less than 0.14mm micropores in turn penetrate the epidermis, the dermis reaches the subcutaneous, during this period, based on the principle of fluid mechanics, the penetration of the liquid is decreasing layer by layer, and finally dispersed in the gap between human fat particles with a diameter of 5cm, after the absorption area increases. The absorption rate of the liquid is accelerated, the blood glucose is stable in a shorter period of time, and in addition, the whole injection is free of needle participation, eliminating the risk of needle infection or new induration caused by needles.
Needle-free syringes can make diabetic patients receiving insulin therapy no longer afraid of injections, fundamentally improve the enthusiasm of insulin therapy, based on the advantages of needle-free drug delivery technology, but also stabilize blood sugar, slow down or even avoid complications, thereby saving patients' personal and national medical resources, alleviating a series of economic problems caused by diabetes complications.
In view of the discussion on the effectiveness and safety of needleless syringes, led by Professor Ji Linong, director of endocrinology of Beijing People's Hospital, 10 top three hospitals nationwide as the center, 427 patients enrolled, and the results of the needle-free injection insulin "FREE study" with the domestic "Fast Shure" needleless syringe as the injection device have also been successfully released at the 2019 ADA Annual Meeting.
The results of the study showed that "needle-free injection of HbA1c was not inferior to the baseline change compared with needle-injected insulin, and at the same time as having statistical efficacy and clinical efficacy", "needle-free injection of insulin, compared with insulin pen injection, insulin use is less dose". "Improved patient adherence to treatment can help clinicians strengthen patient management." Professor Ji Linong thinks.
According to reports, at present, the main deep-ploughing enterprise in China without needle injection is Kuaishuer Medical, covering thousands of hospitals across the country, benefiting nearly one million users, and entering Beijing Medical Insurance Class A at the end of 2021.