First globally broadcast remote robot-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy

Telemedicine offers patients in isolated regions the convenience of remote consultation and treatment, alleviating issues related to the uneven distribution and development of medical resources. However, the implementation of remote surgery still faces technical and operational hurdles, primarily revolving around data transmission speed and surgical precision.

In a study published in the in the KeAi journal Intelligent Surgery, researchers from China completed a remote robot-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy across 1,200 km by using the Edge Multi-Port Endoscopic Surgical Robot MP1000 (Edge MP1000) and 5G communication technology. The surgery, which was broadcast live across the network, demonstrates the feasibility of this technology, and marks a new stage in remote medical technology.

The surgeon was located at the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital in Beijing. Operation instructions were entered using the surgical console, and were then transmitted via the dedicated network data line to the slave console in Wuhan and converted into actual operative actions. The three-dimensional images captured by the endoscope from the slave console served as visual signals, and were transmitted back to the surgeon console's screen in real time via a 5G network dedicated line, forming a closed-loop operation. 

Notably, the remote communication host system of the surgical robot was capable of monitoring and recording the surgical process and network status, while providing intelligent assistance functions. There was sufficient interaction between the teams on both sides, allowing smooth communication and tacit cooperation.

“This achieved the specific requirements of low latency, high precision and high reliability for surgical operations,” says Yuanguang Meng, lead researcher of the case report. “Data showed that the bidirectional latency during the surgery was only 19 ms, with a maximum jitter of about 3 ms in rare moments, and a frame drop rate of approximately 0.2%.”

The patient recovered well postoperatively and was discharged on the fourth day with no postoperative complications.

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Contact the author: Wei Zhang, zw6676@163.com

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).