Towards Realization of Intelligent Medical Treatment at Nanoscale by Artificial Microscopic Swarm Control Systems

Abstract

Background: In this paper, the novel concept of artificial microscopic swarm control systems is proposed as a promising approach towards realization of intelligent medical treatment at nanoscale. In this new paradigm, treatment is done autonomously at nanoscale within the patient's body by the proposed swarm control systems. Methods: From control engineering perspective, medical treatment can be considered as a control problem, in which the ultimate goal is to find the best feasible way to change the state of diseased tissue from unhealthy to healthy in presence of uncertainty. Although a living tissue is a huge swarm of microscopic cells, nearly all of the common treatment methods are based on macroscopic centralized control paradigm. Inspired by natural microscopic swarm control systems such as nervous, endocrine and immune systems that work based on swarm control paradigm, medical treatment needs a paradigm shift from macroscopic centralized control to microscopic swarm control. An artificial microscopic swarm control system consists of a huge number of very simple autonomous microscopic agents that exploit swarm intelligence to realize sense, control (computing) and actuation at nanoscale in local, distributed and decentralized manner. This control system can be designed based on mathematical analysis and computer simulation. Results: The proposed approach is used for treatment of atherosclerosis and cancer based on mathematical analysis and in-silico study. Conclusion: The notion of artificial microscopic swarm control systems opens new doors towards realization of autonomous and intelligent medical treatment at nanoscale within the patient's body.