Intercontinental Surgery: Operating 8000 km Away

When one thinks of surgery, we think of scalpels and pads and blood all around. But what if the surgeon isn’t there to see the blood? In a groundbreaking medical first, Dr. Zhang Yu performed a transcontinental robotic prostatectomy 8000km away from his patient, making global headlines. The first form of telesurgery manifested as surgical robots, appearing in the 1970s. Their upbringing was encouraged by NASA, which wished to provide medical assistance to astronauts remotely during missions. In the commercial medical world, products entered the market later in the 1980s, with the most well known commercially viable device being the Da Vinci. On record, the first telerobotic surgery occurred in 2001, with many more being performed after.  

Since its introduction into the surgical world, telesurgery has advanced substantially, as seen by the case today. Dr Zhang Yu, director of urology at the PLA General Hospital, performed a live prostatectomy at a conference in Rome, Italy, while the patient was situated in Beijing, China. A prostatectomy is a surgical procedure to remove all or part of the prostate gland, often used to treat prostate cancer, which was the case for this patient. While Dr Zhang Yu was audienced by the medical professionals attending the conference, a backup medical team closely monitored the patient in PLA General Hospital in Beijing to ensure safety of the procedure. Connected by high speed 5G networks and fibre-optics, the surgical team was able to reach pretty much instantaneous communication: 135 millisecond latency, which is incredibly well below the 200 millisecond threshold recommended for telesurgery by medical experts. This allowed the procedure to be seamless and feel to be in real time, with Dr Zhang Yu himself noting that “[the] surgery felt almost like an on-site operation, marking a historic moment in medical technology”. Such success on the biggest challenge in remote surgery, that is communication delay, shows great promise in furthering telesurgery in a safe manner. 

This successful procedure was widely covered and admired by many media outlets, recognized as a major milestone in the surgical world. Bypassing geographical limitations by a significant margin, this intercontinental surgery demonstrates the potential of remote surgery, in which medical professionals hope to be able to perfect and utilize in delivering specialised medical care to patients in remote, underserved, or conflict-ridden areas. In this aspect, Dr Zhang Yu’s team has set a focus on experimenting with using the technology to direct surgical treatments for the military.

Written by Renee Wang at Incisionary

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