In a groundbreaking medical achievement, Professor Zhang Xu, a renowned Chinese surgeon, successfully performed the world’s first transcontinental remote robotic surgery from Rome, Italy, on a prostate cancer patient located over 8,000 kilometers away in Beijing.
During a prestigious medical conference in Italy, Professor Zhang, who serves as the director of the Urology Department at the Third Medical Center of the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, operated a surgical console to remotely guide robotic arms. These robotic instruments meticulously removed a lesion from the patient’s prostate, marking a significant advancement in telemedicine and surgical technology.
A team of medical professionals in Beijing, including a backup surgeon, closely monitored the procedure at the Third Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital. The operation’s success hinged on minimal communication delay between Rome and Beijing. Impressively, the latency was only 135 milliseconds, well below the 200-millisecond threshold recommended by medical studies for safe and effective telesurgery.
“The biggest challenge in remote surgery is communication—specifically, whether there is any delay,” Professor Zhang explained. “During today’s surgery, there was almost no delay; it was almost the same as performing an on-site operation.”
Vito Pansadoro, the chairman of the conference on Challenges in Laparoscopy, Robotics, and AI, hailed the procedure as a historic moment in medical science. “The fact that he was able to do it in Rome makes us very, very happy,” he remarked, emphasizing the global significance of this medical milestone.
Following the successful operation, the medical team announced plans to further explore the application of this advanced technology in directing surgical treatments for the military. The success of this procedure not only demonstrates the potential for remote surgeries to overcome geographical barriers but also paves the way for future innovations in global healthcare delivery.
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Chinese team perform world-first robotic surgery from Rome in Beijing
cgtn.com
