Surgeons performed remote eye surgery using a robot
The Zhongshan Ophthalmology Center at Sun Yat-sen University in China has completed the world's first remote surgery on rabbits using a 5G robot.Chinese doctors performed remote eye surgery on rabbits on June 23 at a distance of more than 585 kilometers using a 5G robot. It was developed by Chinese doctors and scientists.
The animals themselves were at a center in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. The surgical team operated the robot from Zhongshan Ophthalmology Center in Haikou, capital of Hainan province.
All 12 operated rabbits are in stable condition after one month of observation.
The scientists said their experiment will accelerate the development of remote medicine in China.
"If everything goes smoothly, 5G remote micron ophthalmic surgery will be available to humans within six months," the researchers wrote.
Ophthalmology is a challenging field for robotic surgery because it requires an extremely high level of precision. If the surgeon's hand moves a millimeter in the wrong direction, a sighted person could become blind.
Such procedures require specialized microscopes and imaging systems. This makes it difficult to adapt robotics in eye surgery. But doctors in China believe robotic eye surgery will be available to people in the country by the end of this year or early 2024.