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Gall Bladder Removed In France By Doctor In New York

Posted by timothy on from the wait-till-it-hits-dentistry dept.

cybaea writes: "In this article, the BBC reports on the first successful major telesurgical operation. Doctors in the United States removed a gall bladder from a patient in eastern France by remotely operating a surgical robot arm." Note that this was using a "high speed optical link," not competing with email, viruses, or other things being sent on the Internet. Update: 09/19 17:05 PM GMT by T : Uh, that's "gall bladder," not "tumor." From this distance they look the same to me.

3 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Pointless by LordNimon · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I thought the whole point behind going to a specific doctor for a procedure was that he's far more knowledgeable about it than anyone nearby. Removing a gall bladder isn't exactly cutting-edge medicine.

    But I would never go for this. Part of the advantage of having such a capable physician is that if anything goes wrong, he can take care of it. The robot arms restrict his options and make it more difficult to work in an emergency.

    Not only that, but this involves a reliable high-speed connection. The only time this technology would be truly useful is if you were in the middle of nowhere and needed an operation. But if you're in the middle of nowhere, you'll never be able to get a reliable high-speed connection!

    --
    And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
    To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
  2. Wireless? by scott1853 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This would be really good if they could setup the system in something the size of an ambulance so people can be fixed up without having to make them endure a helicopter or ambulance ride to the nearest hospital. So is 802.11 ready for this?

  3. Re:Ouch by krlynch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One eventual goals (and one of the reasons that the USDOD is paying big bucks for this kind of research) is to send these types of systems into "dangerous" areas where you wouldn't want to risk the safety of a specialist, or can't afford to send a specialist (major natural disasters, military campaigns, space explorations, remote research stations, etc.). It is unlikely that you will see many more gall bladder removals done in the middle of France with this technology. But you ARE likely to see, for example, soldiers patched up very close to the battle field, or researchers having cancer surgery done in the depths of the Antarctic winter when it is just too dangerous to try and either fly the patient out or the doctor in.