Breaking Update: Here’s a clear explanation of the latest developments related to Breaking News:Water Jet Surgery Improves Precision– What Just Happened and why it matters right now.
SCIENTISTS have developed an innovative integrated water jet system that combines tissue cutting with local anaesthesia, offering greater precision and reduced mechanical injury in surgery. The device is based on hydrodynamic principles and allows synchronous cutting and drug delivery in a single instrument.
Experimental testing included cutting-diffusion experiments, tissue surface morphology analysis, and spatial tracking of anaesthetics using photoacoustic imaging.
Water Jet Performance and Tissue Preservation
The results showed a nonlinear positive correlation between jet parameters such as pressure and nozzle diameter and both cutting depth and aesthetic diffusion distance. Optimal settings varied by tissue type with 4 MPa and a 0.2 mm nozzle for muscle and 8 MPa and a 0.2 mm nozzle for adipose tissue.
Compared with conventional scalpel excision, the water jet method significantly reduced tissue damage. Muscle fibre breakage was reduced by 51% and the damaged area decreased by 35% while preserving up to 39.45 micrometres of functional tissue structure.
Cutting Guided Anaesthetic Diffusion
Photoacoustic imaging revealed that anaesthetic diffusion was nonmonotonic and reached its maximum adjacent to the cutting depth at 18.31 (±2 mm). This demonstrated a cutting guided diffusion mechanism in which the delivery of anaesthesia is closely linked to the dissection process. The findings indicate that the device can precisely control both cutting and drug delivery, improving efficiency and safety in surgical procedures.
Clinical Implications
This study establishes a foundation for combining device function with drug delivery in surgery. The water jet system could reduce mechanical tissue injury, enhance precision, and support the development of minimally invasive multifunctional surgical tools. It represents a potential advance in surgical technology that may improve patient outcomes and reduce recovery time and overall surgical complications significantly in the future.
Future studies should focus on validating the technology in larger preclinical models and assessing its performance across a broader range of surgical applications. Researchers also aim to refine the system’s parameters to further optimise precision, minimise collateral tissue impact, and evaluate its long-term clinical benefits in real-world operating environments.
Reference
Lan Y et al. Investigation on the cutting-infiltration integrated strategy based on medical waterjet for targeted drug delivery. Scientific Reports. 2026;