This is not the first time that such a surgical operation has been performed remotely. Back in 2001, Professor Marescaux performed a cholecystectomy (gallbladder surgery) from New York on a patient from Strasbourg. Since then, telesurgery techniques have evolved. They allowed a team of surgery professors from China and Switzerland to perform a remote operation on a pig. Thanks to an ultra-fast internet connection and sophisticated robotic technology, they were able to control an endoscope from Zurich while the animal was in Hong Kong.
With new technologies and the advent of the Internet, scientists are constantly finding new ways to do things. And the field of surgery is no exception. For example, the company Accuray has marketed an autonomous robot, the CyberKnife, capable of performing radiosurgery. The Da Vinci robot is capable of operating on patients’ prostates all by itself. The work published in the journal Wiley that we are discussing today, however, deals with another intervention technique: telesurgery. Researchers from the University of Hong Kong and ETH Zurich were able to operate on a pig located 9,300 kilometers away.
This technical feat is made possible by a very fast internet connection, an endoscope specially designed to be manipulated remotely and cameras. Indeed, during the operation, Dr. Alexandre (…)
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