A London-based doctor has carried out remote surgery on a patient in Gibraltar in a UK first. Prof Prokar Dasgupta, a professor of urology who also heads The London Clinic’s robotics centre of excellence, carried out a prostate removal on 62-year-old cancer patient Paul Buxton, using an advanced robotic telesurgery system. It is the first time that such a procedure has been carried out by a medic in the UK. Prof Dasgupta said of the advance: “I think it is very, very exciting, the humanitarian benefit is going to be significant.”
The prostatectomy was undertaken using the Toumai Surgical Robot System, developed by Chinese company MicroPort MedBot. The system is an advanced laparoscopic system designed for minimally invasive, high-precision procedures using a four-arm master-slave robotic design. Prof Dasgupta carried out the precise surgical movements at the surgeon console part of the system installed at The London Clinic, viewing the proceedings via a high-definition, magnified 3D view in close to real time. The surgeon reported that there was a delay or lag of just 0.06 seconds (6 microseconds) between his end and the robot in Gibraltar.
Four-armed robot precisely mirrors the surgeon’s movements
The communications between the console in London and the robot in Gibraltar were carried out via fibre optic cables. A backup 5G connection was also available but was not needed during the operation. The robot arms feature seven degrees of freedom (7-DOF), allowing them to mimic the movements of a human hand and arm with a very high precision. The technology also features tremor filtration and advanced force-sensing technology for accurate tactile feedback. This allows the surgeon to feel as well as see what is going on during the operation.
The operation was the first of two test cases, with the second involving an unnamed man who was also based in Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a British overseas territory that has just one hospital, meaning that patients with complex needs often have to travel abroad for treatment, usually to the UK. Buxton told the BBC: “If I hadn't gone for the telesurgery in Gibraltar, then I would have had to have flown to London.”
Prof Dasgupta is due to carry out the procedure again on 14th March, with the operation being live‑streamed to 20,000 urological surgeons at the European Association of Urology congress.
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