Nanoscale robots could manage aneurysm brain bleeds

The development could enable precise, relatively low-risk treatment of brain aneurysms, which cause around 500,000 deaths globally each year. The study is detailed in Small.

An aneurysm – a blood-filled bulge on a brain artery that can rupture and cause fatal bleeds – can also lead to stroke and disability. 

The study points to a future where nanobots could be remotely controlled to carry out complex tasks inside the human body – such as targeted drug delivery and organ repair – in a minimally invasive way, the researchers said.

The team, involving researchers from Edinburgh University’s School of Engineering, engineered magnetic nanorobots comprising blood-clotting drugs encased in a protective coating that are designed to melt at precise temperatures.  

In lab tests, several hundred billion such nanobots were injected into an artery and then remotely guided with magnets and medical imaging to the site of an aneurysm.  

Magnetic sources outside the body then cause the robots to cluster together inside the aneurysm and be heated to their melting point, releasing a naturally occurring blood-clotting protein, which blocks the aneurysm to prevent or stem bleeding into the brain.