Nanorobots,Substitutes for Present Heart Surgeries

8/8/2019 Nanorobots,Substitutes for Present Heart Surgeries

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NANOROBOTS-

SUBSTITUTES FOR

PRESENT HEART SURGERIES

ABSTRACT

In todays fast world, man is in a

situation where he has to

compete against machines. Due

to this stress of a mechanical life,

the human body is subjected to

various levels of trauma. The

organ most affected is the heart.

Heart attacks are becoming so

common now a days. The

percentage of people affected is

increasing by the day. This heart

attack is mainly caused due to

improper diet with excessive

cholesterols and lack of proper

exercise to burn calories, which

leads to blocks in the arteries.

The present method of treatment-

the bypass surgery or the

angioplasty, though effective,

may be considered outdated in

todays technological age.

Nanorobots are tiny nanoscale

devices that may be used to

perform a variety of tasks very

accurately and in lesser time.

Nanotechnology is the cutting

edge of future technology and is

vastly directed towards medical

applications. This paper throws

light on one possible application

of these nanorobots in the human

body, where they may be

employed to remove heart blocks

more effectively and accurately,

in lesser time causing no pain

what so ever. This

nanotechnology will be the driver

for the future technologies of

todays shrinking world.

INTRODUCTION

Heart blocks are becoming one

of the major diseases among the

people of todays world. With a

variety of reasons for occurrence,

ranging from lack of exercise to

smoking and drinking, this has

emerged as the most wide spread

disease ever. These heart blocks


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are caused due to a variety of

reasons. Current diagnostic

measures include a lot of painful

processes like the Angiogram.

The treatment for the block is

also extremely dangerous, time

consuming and painful.

Angioplasty, though having a

high success rate, is still old

fashioned. Todays technology

promises a lot more than the

insertion of a thin tube into your

blood vessels. Nanorobots can beeffectively used in this process of

curing heart blocks. This paper

discusses the causes of heart

blocks, the current process of

diagnosis and therapy. Later this

paper throws light on the novel

idea of curing these heart blocks

using nanorobots- a technology

just a few years away from

implementation. This paper

views the problem on a purely

theoretical and imaginative

approach.

CHOLESTEROLS

Our body fluids, mainly

blood have a biochemical

compound known as cholesterol.

These cholesterols are chemical

compounds of glycerol and

unsaturated acid. The

cholesterols found in the human

body can be classified into two

types. They are,

Low density lipids (LDL)

High density lipids(HDL)

These cholesterols flow

through the blood and are

essential for the normal

functioning of the body to a

certain extent. Cholesterol is a

fat-like substance (lipid). It isboth produced in the liver and

consumed by eating animal

products such as meat, eggs or

dairy products. The body needs

cholesterol, and manufactures all

the cholesterol needed by various

organ systems. In fact, the body

naturally produces up to four

times more cholesterol than what

normally would be taken in

through diet. The body uses

cholesterol to:

Assist in the manufacture of

hormones or vitamin D

Break down carbohydrates and

proteins

Help form a protective coating

around nerves

Build cell walls and to produce

bile (the word cholesterol is

Greek for bile solids)


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Cholesterol is carried through the

bloodstream by lipoproteins.

Lipoproteins are proteins that

wrap around both cholesterol and

other fatty materials and

transport them through the

bloodstream.

The HDLs are

basically harmless as they highly

stable and are disposed off by the

body effectively. These HDLs

are basically stable and hence donot stick to the walls of the blood

vessels. Actually , these HDLs

help to carry the bad cholesterols

from the blood stream to the liver

from where it gets disposed.

These contain more of protein ,

and less fat. On the other hand,

the LDLs contain more fat and

less protein.

The LDLs are a bit

difficult to get rid of.These

LDLs or bad cholesterols as

they are commonly known, get

accumulated on the walls of the

blood vessels. This happens

because these LDLs are highly

unstable. So they get

disintegrated and rather than

being disposed off by the liver,

they get accumulated along the

walls of the arteries.

It is natural that the blood

vessels continually contract and

expand in order to accommodate

the variations in the blood

pressure, arising due to various

reasons. But when the LDLs

flow through the blood, they get


blood vessels. These LDLs on

accumulation make the blood

vessels loose their elastic

property. As a result the blood

vessels will no longer be able tokeep up with the pressure

variations of the blood. Hence

the pressure fluctuations in the

blood are carried over to the

heart and hence the heart is

subjected to constantly varying

stress which weakens it.


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ANGIOGRAM

The LDLs on further

deposition form a lump and close

in on the diameter of the blood

vessel. So as the concentration

increases the diameter of the

blood vessel decreases. Hence

blood transportation to or from

the heart is hindered.

The intensity of this

problem is measured by a

method known as Angiogram..

Here a small tube of diameter of

about a few micrometer with a

catheter at the end is used. This is

introduced into the veins at the

thigh and upto the pericardium.

This catheter injects a radioactive

fluid into the blood stream, the

flow of which is monitored by a

continuous X-ray. When this

fluid flows through the block,

there will be a contraction in the

thickness of the fluid line

monitored through the X-ray.

This contraction indicates the

location of the block. Once theblock has been located, it is

removed by a method known as

Angioplasty.

ANGIOPLASTY

In this method

the end of the catheter has a

deflated balloon. This balloon is

positioned under the block and it

is inflated, so that the block

bursts, and is carried away

through the blood stream. In

order to prevent the recursion of

the block, the blocked area is

covered with a one-way

inflatable metal cylinder, that is

attached on the outside of the

balloon. As the balloon is

inflated, the cylinder attains

shape, and gets locked on

attaining maximum expansibility.


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This method is known as

balloon angioplasty

NANOROBOTS

Nanorobots are

nanodevices that may be of about

3 to 5 micrometres in size. The

individual parts used to make

these nanorobots may be of 1 to

100 nm in size. These nanorobots

are mainly made up of carbon,

and may be given a coating of

diamond. The diamond coat is

given because diamond is the

most inert and tough material

ever known. These nanorobots

can be used for a variety of

purposes. In this paper, to treat

heart blocks we use three kinds

of nanorobots.

.

Nanorobots with nanosensors to

locate the block. These robots

will need four kinds of

nanosensors.

1. pressure sensors

2. acoustic sensors

3. chemo sensors

4. smart sensors

nanorobots equipped with

nanolasers to severe the block

after confirmation.

Nanorobots that have the ability

to fill the burnt gaps with fresh

flawless cells synthesized by the

robots themselves in order to

prevent the recurrence of the

block. This process is known as

molecular synthesis.

THE ACTUAL PROCESS

The three types of

nanorobots needed for the

process, are suspended in a liquid

matrix and injected into blood

vessels of the patient.

Immediately the acoustic sensors

in the sensor robots get activated

and begin navigating the army of

robots through the blood stream

to the pericardium.

Simultaneously, the smart

sensors present in the sensor

robots, get activated and form a

closed ad-hoc network

connecting all the robots. This is

very essential in order to guide

all the nanorobots to the desired

location.


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The sensor robots

perform the most sophisticated

type of diagnosis known, i.e.

diagnosis from the inside of the

human body. These sensors , on

reaching the periphery of the

heart, scan the pericardial

vessels, for blocks and locate the

spot exactly.

The pressure sensors mounted on

the sensor robots, scan the blood

vessels for variations in the bloodpressure. This will act as the first

confirmation. This scanning for

pressure variations is necessary,

as in the region of the block,

there will be a constriction of the

blood vessel and hence a rise in

the blood pressure compared to

that existing in the nearby areas.

These sensors will generate a

report of the potential areas of

heart block, based on the

pressure mapping of the blood

vessels.

The second

confirmation, comes from the

chemo sensors. These sensors

scan the region they traverse, for

the chemical composition of the

cholesterols. That is, these

sensors differentiate the

cholesterol compounds


blood vessels, from the actual

composition of the tissues of the

blood vessels. In this way, the

block can be identified

accurately. All these information

are transmitted through the ad-

hoc network formed by all the

smart sensors and can be

constantly viewed by the doctors

monitoring the entire process.After successful

location of the block, the second

type of nanorobots , those

equipped with nanolasers, come

into picture. These lasers , like

the robots themselves, can be

Sensor robots that navigate

other robots through the b

Size of nanorobots

when compared to that

of the red blood cells.


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powered by the body itself, by

means of the kinetic energy of

the flowing blood, pressure of the

blood flow , etc. thus, these

lasers can be powered by the

most ingenious ways imaginable.

These laser robots on activation

based on the information flow

through the network, effectively

burn down the block. Since the

operation is held on a nanoscale,

the outcome is highly accurate.

Moreover , there is literally zerodamage to the surrounding

healthy tissues.

The final leg of the

operation is the responsibility of

he molecular synthesizers. These

nanorobots, take the required

biochemical substances from the

blood or the surrounding tissues,

and synthesise the cells of the

blood vessels in order to seal the

area of the block. These cells are

placed in the affected region and

as a result , we have a whole new

region of the blood vessel that is

completely free from the threat

of another block.

ADVANTAGES

1. The process is very fast.

2. Since the scale of opeartion is

very small, the results are very

accurate.

3. The process is less painful

unlike angioplasty, where the

patient takes months to recover

from the physical trauma of the

operation.

4. The process is technologically

very advanced and reliable.

5. The patient is not subjected to

harmful rays unlike angioplasty

where he is placed below acontinuous X-ray during

diagnosis.

6. The chance of any aftereffects

or recurrences are completely

eliminated.

DISADVANTAGES

1. Nanorobots, the technology as

such, may be very costly.

2 The technology may take

several years to be implemented

practically.

3. The technology may lead to

further technological problems

like the introduction of

artificial reconstruction and

artificial intelligence which will

result in the robots going out of

control of humans.


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CONCLUSION

Nanotechnologyis truly a vast field of research

and study, bound only by the

limits of human imagination.

Eventhough this may seem to

most of them like a fairy tale, the

days of implementation of these

devices are not far off. The

machines needed to fabricate

these nanorobots are yet to be

visualized. Hence these

nanorobots are still out of

production although having

passed the drawing board stage

long back. The human mind will

one day make this extremely

interesting vision, a reality. This

field however at present, in its

infancy stages, just like aviation

was, during the early 1900s.

Let us hope that this technology

also will one day, become as

successful and dominating likeaviation today.

REFERENCES

Electronics for you November 2004.

www.google.com\cholesterols

Dr.Saravana Boopathi M.B.B.S., M.S, Madurai.

www.howstuffworks.com
http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Documents

Nanorobots,Substitutes for Present Heart Surgeries