Two surgeons from Bordeaux operate on patients in China using robots

Le premier patient était atteint d'une tumeur au rein et le second d'un cancer de la prostate. MAXPPP – Joël PHILIPPON

Nouvelle prouesse de téléchirurgie : deux chirurgiens ont opéré deux patients à 8000 km de distance en Chine. 

At a congress organized by the robotics section of the European Association of Urology, two surgeons operated on a patient 8,000 km away in China using robots.

The first operation was performed on September 11 on a 37-year-old patient. Professor Alberto Breda, a Spanish surgeon, removed a 3.5 cm kidney tumor. For the record, he performed the operation in a suit and tie. 

A week later, the Fundació Puigvert, the Barcelona health center where Professor Breda works, announced that the patient was recovering without complications. 

The second patient, a 51-year-old man with prostate cancer, was operated on for 1 hour and 10 minutes by Dr. Richard Gaston, a urologist in Bordeaux, also using a robot in his office.

The patient's recovery was going well, confirmed the Madrid Urology Center.

Helping surgeons with less experience

These feats were made possible by: “the surgeon's hand movements that are reproduced by instruments inside a patient who, in this case, was in Beijing. Between the surgeon's movements and the movements of the instrument inside the patient, there is simply a delay of 130 milliseconds, which is practically invisible to the naked eye,” Richard Gaston explained to BFMTV before adding: “It's the possibility for trained surgeons to come to the aid of a surgeon who has less experience in any part of the world and that's learning. When a surgeon is performing an operation, at some point, an expert surgeon can take over, help him through the difficult part of the operation.”

This type of remote operation allows low-income countries to invest and train remote surgeons and equalize disparities in health care.