Canadian Surgeons Perform Telerobotic Surgery

AndroidCat writes "While the equipment used isn't new, this operation was different because one of surgeons was 400km away. Dr. Mehran Anvari in Hamilton Ontario tele-operated instruments in North Bay General Hospital, supervised by Dr. Craig McKinley on site. The link was over a high priority routed Bell Canada connection. The patient, Ms. Fortier is doing quite well. Don't try this from home with a dialup connection."

Comments

hmm performance

[hfastedge]

I wonder if any of the special IP priorities that rarely get used outside of LANS (or in) were used.

Also, if any encryption was done, because id be concerned with achieving maximum latency possible.

They said over a commercial network, so I'd have to assume encryption, possibly with special hardware for it.

TeleRobotics is almost a like a video game.

[anubi]

Being I work in robotics a lot, this technology is typical of what we are trying to do.

We already use micro-manipulators to do things so fine that we humans find it hard to control our own hands to do. There are many things a machine just does much better than we can.. things like zoom vision, ability to see from angles where we can not get our heads to, and doing precision tasks. Ever tried to make stitches as precise as a sewing machine?

The business end of the machines can be much smaller than our fingers, and tools on the machine are designed expressly for needed things. None of this "hand me the scapel, nurse" stuff. The machine can have as many arms and tools as the designers deem necessary.

And the machines can be made absolutely sterile. It is really hard to sterilize a human, and still have us functional.

It is really a tiny, very tiny, step from going to having a surgeon sitting next to a patient doing the surgery, to having one on the other side of the world doing it... ( the main problem is latency ).

The biggest advantage to the patient is that his need of surgical services may happen at any time - what it means is there is a world-wide pool of surgeons available to help - right now. They do not need to get scrubbed. If they are a critical care surgeon, by golly, they may have their end right in their den at their personal residence. Even if the surgeon was in a most unsanitary condition at the time of need, that would not be a factor. Time is. And that is what this technology gives us. Who is best equipped to meet the need... NOW.

This is what dreams are made of. This is why we go to work. To make things like this.

This is why we need technology.

Re:TeleRobotics is almost a like a video game.

[Evil Adrian]

I don't mind this kind of stuff being done over a LAN, but over the Internet? Packet loss, DDoS, a critical routing point decides to crap out in the middle of surgery...

Halfway across the world seems retarded to me. In the same room using robotics seems absolutely delightful.

Speaking of long-distance stuff, though, it's a shame the FuFme site is no longer running... :-)

Tangental Thought ...

[peatbakke]

... if we can perform surgery via telerobotics, why wouldn't we be able to perform, say, guided experiments in space?

Given the inherent safety issues with routine space travel, how difficult would it be to create a remotely manned orbiter to carry out space based experiments?

It seems like there would be a tremendous number of benefits -- no direct risk to human life, smaller shuttle / more room for payloads, 24/7 operation (split shifts behind the controls), etc. ... of course, we'd have to deal with staying in contact with the shuttle while it orbited the Earth, and the lag associated with such distances ... and it wouldn't be quite so exciting ...

Just a thought. Any ideas?

One of the most useful applications...

[A Rabid Tibetan Yak]

From the article:

Using telerobotics will enable patients living in remote locations to be able to undergo procedures they would normally have to travel to city locations to receive, Dr. McKinley said. Telerobotic surgery will also assist with medical training, enabling experienced surgeons to assist from a distance those who are still learning.

This is probably the killer app. Being a med student myself (and having just watched Scrubs) I think the ability to have someone watching over your shoulder during an important operation would greatly assist confidence during learning surgical procedures -- especially during unusual times of the morning when the hospital is understaffed etc., and you're the house surgeon lumped with everyone walking in the door.

However, allowing dangerous operations to be undertaken in remote locations is probably not a great idea... without qualified staff physically on hand, I don't think you'd want to trust someone's life to an IP connection; otherwise, the next time some DDoS or Outlook worm strikes, servers aren't the only thing we lose.

i wouldn't do it

[frankmu]

as a surgeon, i have my misgivings about these types of surgery. the easy surguries a 4th year medical student can do. the hard ones are what we get paid for. laparoscopic surgery can have severe complications, like poking a big vessel called the AORTA. you need someone who can open up a patient and stop the bleeding RIGHT AWAY. there are times when you just can't use laparoscopy also, and you need actual feel. cost-wise, it may be cheaper buy a bus ticket for the patient to get the consultation 400 km away, than for every hospital in the country to have these robots in the OR.