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Medical marvel

Amy Tan Published on Mon, Mar 10, 2014 / 10:00 AM GMT+8

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SINGAPORE (March 10): Louis Phee is no stranger to failure. In the process of developing the Master and Slave Transluminal Endoscopic Robot, or MASTER, he encountered countless failed attempts from which he learnt not to be discouraged. His persistence paid off when the MASTER successfully performed its first-in-man trials in India and Hong Kong in 2011, during which cancerous stomach tumours from five patients were extracted through their oesophageal passage. The operations were considered ground-breaking as the doctor did not have to make any cuts on the body, which means no scars and little risk of infection.

“A surgery like this would have typically taken eight hours and the patient would be bedridden for days. But with the MASTER, it just takes about 20 minutes and the patient can go home the same day,” explains Phee, an associate professor at the division of Mechatronics and Design at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and CEO of medical device company EndoMaster.

A mechanical engineer by training, Phee focused his career on developing robotic devices for medical use. In his experience, the best inventions are born of collaboration. “There are a lot of engineers who build stuff that nobody uses. This is why I work with a doctor,” he says.