Mind-Boggling Medical Technologies

If tiny robots crawling along the inside of a blood vessel sounds like something from a sci-fi thriller, think again. Blood bots, along with other amazing medical technologies, are in development now and provide promise for early diagnosis and treatment of a variety of medical conditions. In the not-too-distant future, you or a family member may benefit from the medical advances on the horizon.
Note: Many of the innovations discussed are still in the early stages of development. MSN Health & Fitness does not endorse or recommend any products, treatments or procedures in this presentation.
Blood bots
A robot barely visible to the eye may make scalpels a thing of the past for biopsies and blood-vessel repairs. Surgeons first inject these mechanical critters into a patient's vein. Once the device is inside the bloodstream, operators use a magnetic field to guide the tiny robot—it's just 1 millimeter in diameter—to its destination. There the bot can clean plaque-filled vessels like a Roto-Rooter and can even slice off tissue for biopsies. Because the bot, also called the "ViRob," makes deep incisions unnecessary, it reduces recovery time for the patient. It's also possible that physicians may be able to direct the bot from a remote location to operate on patients in the comfort of their own home in the future. Oded Salomon, an engineer at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, and the developer of the bot, has said he believes it will be in use by specialists within five years.