A Chinese doctor and his team performed a medical marvel after removing a tumor from 5,000 kilometers away.
On August 5, 2024, stock market expert Naresh Nambisan shared the procedure’s video on X.
Shanghai Chest Hospital doctor Luo Qinquan operated in the Chinese city. On the other hand, his patient was in Kashgar in Xinjiang, which was on the opposite side of the country.
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According to News18 India, Dr. Luo said the success of this surgery represents a milestone for surgical robots.
Soon, these machines may provide important medical procedures to patients in remote and rural areas.
How did the doctors perform remote surgery?
The Information Office of Shanghai Municipality explained that Dr. Luo Qingquan used “domestically-made surgical robots” for remote surgery.
A year ago, he trained by performing robotic surgeries on animals. Later, he removed a person’s tumor by controlling a surgery robot thousands of kilometers away.
Meanwhile, doctors in Kashgar, Xinjiang assisted as if they and Dr. Luo were in the same operation room. As a result, they completed the procedure within an hour.
“The success of this surgery is a milestone to show the clinical capability of a domestically-made surgical robot, which can bring more benefits to patients,” Luo said.
In response, X netizens praised the doctor and the remote surgery technology, and India-based news website WION shared some of the comments:
“Remote Robotic minimal access surgery is the future trend. And it is already here,” one commented.
“Medical science has progressed so much, yet we do not know the multitude of things in the human body,” the person noted.
“I wonder if this is going to be possible in robotic spine surgery as we still need the master to control the tool to insert implants into spinal bones,” another person wrote.
“Robotic spine surgery has a long way to go before this possibility to be a reality. I wish I can see this happen in my professional career,” the netizen added.