Surgery by satellite -- New possibilities at medicine's cutting edge

Robotic surgery may be coming to your town. Robots that perform surgery can be driven by surgeons who no longer stand by the patient, but direct the operation from a computer console. In most cases the surgeon is seated at a console within the theatre, only a few metres away from the patient. Now a team of surgeons and scientists have shown that the surgeon and robot can be linked via a 4,000 mile Internet connection, or by satellite, reported in the journal The International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery.

This raises the possibility of a surgeon’s expertise being made available to patients lying in surgical theatres thousands of miles away.

Robots are starting to prove that they can be used to perform minimally invasive surgery with high precision. In theory there is no reason why the surgeon needs to be physically close to their patient, so long as the communication link between the console and the robotic device is fast. The problem is that there may be too much of a delay between the image of the patient being captured and being displayed on the console, or between the surgeon sending an instruction and the robot responding.

A team of 11 researchers, who work jointly in the Department of Medical Biophysics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, and CSTAR (Canadian Surgical Technologies & Advanced Robotics), London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, Canada, set out to test whether it is possible to link the surgeon and robot by the Internet and by satellite.

Their experimental surgical trials showed that the delays were much greater when they used the satellite link than using the Internet (600ms vs 55 ms respectively). But after a short period of practice, the surgeon got used to this and there were no measurable differences in the quality of the surgery using the two forms of communication. The team thinks that virtual reality prediction would also greatly aid this type of surgery.

“This is an exciting next step forward in developing telesurgery, which holds the promise of many new efficient and cost-effective ways of providing advanced healthcare services,” says project leader Reiza Rayman.

Source: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Related stories:

Robot-assisted minimally-invasive CABG surgery
Dr. Robert Poston is a pioneer in the use of robotics for minimally invasive cardiac surgery. He recently joined BMC as chief of cardiac surgery. With his arrival, BMC has become one of only one of 9 hospitals across the country, and the only hospital in Boston, to offer robot-assisted minimally invasive coronary artery bypass, the most advanced treatment available for coronary artery disease (the most common form of heart disease - 16 million Americans have -- and the leading cause of death - 1 million/year --in the U.S.)
New training method for hip surgery
Delegates at the British Society for Computer Aided Orthopaedic Surgery Conference will hear that results from a pilot study saw graduates 95 per cent more confident using this robotic technique than when using conventional surgical methods in training.
Robotic device appears useful for surgical removal of cancer involving the tonsils
A new robotic surgery technique appears promising for the removal of cancer involving the tonsil region, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
World first: Lasers used in keyhole surgery for brain cancer
In a ground-breaking advance, French neurosurgeons on Friday said they had successfully treated brain tumours through ultra-keyhole surgery, using a tiny fibre-optic laser to destroy cancerous cells.
More aortic chest aneurysms being treated with less-invasive stents
An estimated 60,000 Americans are walking around with time bombs in their chests called thoracic aortic aneurysms. At any time, their main chest artery could suddenly burst open, causing massive internal bleeding that is almost always fatal.
Why do eyelids sag with age? New study answers mystery
Many theories have sought to explain what causes the baggy lower eyelids that come with aging, but UCLA researchers have now found that fat expansion in the eye socket is the primary culprit. As a result, researchers say, fat excision should be a component of treatment for patients seeking to address this common complaint.
Brain surgery is getting easier on patients
Dr. Edward Duckworth is part of a new generation of neurosurgeons who are making brain surgery a lot easier on patients. At Loyola University Hospital, Duckworth is using less-invasive techniques to remove tumors, to repair life-threatening aneurysms and to dramatically reduce seizures in epilepsy patients.
Stem cell indicator for bowel cancer should lead to better survival rates
Stem cell scientists have developed a more accurate way of identifying aggressive forms of bowel cancer, which should eventually lead to better treatment and survival rates. Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK.

News discussion:

Medicine & Health news