First Zero-Gravity Surgery a Success

MattSparkes writes "Slashdot reported earlier this week that the first ever zero gravity surgery was to take place. Today the team of doctors successfully carried out the operation, removing a benign tumour from the forearm of a 46-year-old volunteer. "Now we know that a human being can be operated on in space without too many difficulties," team leader Dominique Martin said after the flight. The studies show that minor surgery is possible even during long-term inhabitation of space."

Comments

Lucky guy

[LiquidCoooled]

The guy was crossing his fingers whilst the surgery was taking place.
Mind you, having his hand in a bucket of ice for the flight back would make them quite immobile.

Luckily surgeons here on Earth managed to reattach them.

Anyone doing Zero Gravity Copulation research?

[Bamafan77]

And if so, where do I sign up?

Re:Anyone doing Zero Gravity Copulation research?

[Moby Cock]

I have a long standing bet with a friend of mine that this has been tried already on a shuttle mission, but kept quiet. We agree that there is not evidence for or against it at present. ((I bet that it has happned, he bets it hasn't))

Re:Anyone doing Zero Gravity Copulation research?

[jonnythan]

I would bet it hasn't. Shagging a member of a small, close-knit team that's focused on a very dangerous, mentally and physically demanding mission is a huge no-no.

Astronauts are going to be very highly trained and motivated. No woman who has gotten herself that far would bang someone on a mission, and no guy that intelligent and ambitious would risk his entire life and career on a stupid stunt like that.

My opinion of course :)

Re:Anyone doing Zero Gravity Copulation research?

[Red Flayer]

I'm sure some of the mice experiments involved reproductive testing.

As to which astronaut actually had to copulate with the mice, I don't know.

Re:Anyone doing Zero Gravity Copulation research?

[WillyPete]

By the same logic, if NASA ordered them to do it, they would do so without hesitation. They may not be a military outfit, but they are dominated by military men, and perform military operations.

I did hear that they supposedly shot a porn in a flight just like the surgeons. Never saw it, and wouldn't want to. They call those things "Vomit Comets" for a reason. I half expected to hear the doctors puked on their patient. They must have trained in Zero-G ahead of time.

There's also a document floating around that discusses an alleged series of experiments in the cargo bay of the shuttle. Sex in Zero-G sounds awesome, but the lack gravity would make it tricky to get any leverage. The doc claims they tried several things, including ropes and a tube large enough to hold both "subjects." The document's probably a fake, but it does raise enough salient points to be an interesting read. Happy hunting.

Re:Anyone doing Zero Gravity Copulation research?

[chrysrobyn]

But what if a pair of crew members are married, like Mark C. Lee and Jan Davis of STS-47? href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-47. However, while the media jumped on it, I'm pretty sure it was a non issue. They've got tight enough schedules as it is on those missions without dealing with one extra biological experiment.

I followed your link and I found it quite informative and not very vague on the matter. "the first married couple to fly on the same space mission" ... "biotechnology" ... "fluid dynamics" ... "acceleration measurements" ... "Life sciences included experiments on human health ... human physiology and behavior ... biological rhythms. Test subjects included the crew..." One would think that sex in space would involve at least a few of those.

Long term?

[truthsearch]

The studies show that minor surgery is possible even during long-term inhabitation of space.

They were at zero-g for 20 seconds at a time. How does that prove the same techniques will work after the body has been in zero-g for long periods of time? TFA makes no mention of this.

Re:Long term?

[brother bloat]

I agree that this system may not scale so simply. In addition to the issue of time scale, the doctors mentioned that they, in at least some cases, will be using robots operated remotely rather than the actual surgeons being present on board. One could argue that the success of this experimental surgery suggests that other zero gravity surgeries aren't out of the question. However, it's extremely difficult to predict how subtle differences involved in going from parabolic flight to space flight will affect such a complicated thing as surgery.

In other news...

[tompaulco]

The first 2G surgery was ALSO a success.

Lots of blood

[varmittang]

Minor operations might be fine, but when you need to work on something that can spill lots of blood, like a wound or heart surgery, that might be a little more difficult to control were blood shoots off too.

Re:Lots of blood

[Moby Cock]

The presence of lots of blood is already a problem. It tends to pool, obstucting the surgeons view. That's why they have suction mechanisms. Suction is still valid in micro-gravity.

I don't expect space operating theatres to look anything like Star Trek VI, with blood drops drifting about aimlessly.

Re:Next medical challenge

[CrashPoint]

That sure would suck, and would be a crushing disappointment if it failed.

Mars, here we come

[Sephiroth9611]

There aren't too many ways to hurt yourself in a small capsule. Of course, if there is anything serious, odds are you're already dead from vacuum or cold. This is a milestone towards proving that a trip to Mars can be feasible and that things that crop up along the way that are not serious in and of themselves can be dealt with on the voyage by a flight surgeon or a medic.

I dont get it...

[MrTester]

What does this really prove?
If there are complications its as likely that they are from the gravity fluctuations as from the near-zero gravity. There could still be complications with near zero g surgery, but they were mitigated by only being in zero g for 30 second intervals.
If they are looking at the procedures of surgery in near zero gravity, what have they learned? According to the original article this is preparation for tele-robotic surgery, not preperation for surgeons in space. So what lessons from this would apply to a robot?

I understand baby steps into these things, but this just does not seem all that useful.
Wouldnt it be more useful to send a rat up to the space station and walk astronauts through a procedure? Sure it would be a more expensive (the fuel to get a 1 pound rat into space vs the jet fuel and crew for 6 hours) but I would think the results would be much more telling.

At least thats my professional non-astronaut non-surgeon non-scientist non-accountant opinion.

Re:Next medical challenge

[Isotopian]

That was a terrible joke to make. Do you have any idea what kind of pressure those people are under?

Anti-septic?

[misleb]

I wonder if there is a significant increase in risk of infection. From waht I understand, zero gravity environments are notoriously dirty. Disgusting, even. You sneaze, for example, and the result just floats and sticks to the wall. Bits of food float around (harboring microbes, etc.) How does one create sterile environment in zero-G?

-matthew