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Telesurgery: a lever for equity in access to healthcare worldwide

Today, millions of patients around the world live hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from the facilities that could provide the treatment they need. Inequalities in access to care are glaring. Telesurgery can serve as a true lever for equity in healthcare, bringing surgical expertise remotely to patients in regions where human and material resources are insufficient. The management of ischemic stroke is a striking example of the role telesurgery could play in improving equity of access. Currently, less than 3% of patients worldwide receive the appropriate treatment—the surgical removal of the clot (thrombectomy)—within the required two-hour window. The challenge is enormous, as every…

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 An Insight Into The Emerging and Futuristic Field of Telesurgery

Where the future of surgery lies, right at the conjunction of telecommunications, robotics, and medicine. Telesurgery is a field that has always fascinated me. Not only does it allow for more surgeries to be done globally without having to worry about geographical location, but it is also a testament to the future of the medical field as well as surgical operations. I find it very fascinating that a surgeon can do surgery with high precision from his/her home which may be thousands of kilometers away from the operating room. The surgeon may be in North America while their patient is in an operating room at a hospital in Australia.

 How High Speed Communications Networks Are Making Remote Surgery Realistic

Imagine a future where surgeons no longer have to enter war zones to treat soldiers injured on the battlefield. Instead, they would just rig themselves up to a surgical robot like the Da Vinci and operate on wounded fighters remotely. This is the promise of telesurgery—when a doctor performs surgery on a patient without being in the same physical location.

Articles of Interest

The Surgeon Will Skype You Now

The tech for surgeons to operate on patients from hundreds or even thousands of miles away has been possible for over a decade. But will it ever become commonplace?

A New Technological Approach to Robotic Telesurgery with Starlink: Safe Telesurgery

The successful performance of this telesurgery highlights the potential of low-cost and low-latency satellite communication systems to overcome barriers in telesurgery. These findings pave the way for broader telesurgery applications, particularly in underserved regions, and set the stage for further technical and clinical advancements in remote robotic surgery.

Remote telesurgery in humans: a systematic review

Since the conception of robotic surgery, remote telesurgery has been a dream upon which incredible technological advances haven been built. Despite the considerable enthusiasm for, there have been few published studies of remote telesurgery on humans.

Telesurgery and the importance of context

Telesurgery has the potential to overcome geographical barriers in surgical care, encouraging its deployment in areas with sparse surgical expertise. Despite successful in-human experiments and substantial technological progress, the adoption of telesurgery remains slow.

Telesurgery in urology — advances, challenges and future directions

Telesurgery, also known as remote surgery, has emerged as a revolutionary paradigm in urology. The use of telesurgery and its applications in urological procedures is characterized by lights and shadows that challenge surgeons and international surgical societies to regulate this promising field.

Telesurgery: Past, Present, and Future

Telesurgery uses wireless networking and robotic technology to allow surgeons to operate on patients who are distantly located. This technology not only benefits today’s shortage of surgeons, but it also eliminates geographical barriers that prevent timely and high-quality surgical intervention, financial burden, complications, and often risky long-distance travel.

The benefits and challenges of telesurgery to overcome the lack of medical teams in remote areas

Remote surgery reshapes the dynamics within the operating room, altering traditional patterns of organization and interaction between medical professionals. A recent study has shown that the introduction of a surgical robot into an operating room increases the physical and sensory distance between team members. This rearrangement has a major impact on the mental and emotional state of the surgical team and requires more effort throughout the operation to maintain awareness and symbiosis.

The Future of Surgery

The operating room is no stranger to technological advances: Where once ether was used as an anesthetic, now robots commonly help with surgeries. However, some things have been slow to change. Surgeons often have to manually adjust light booms during complex procedures, and there is a dearth of data on surgical performance. Hospitals and research labs are working to change that.

This Remotely Controlled Robot Will Conduct a Simulated Surgery on the International Space Station

Robot surgeons could treat astronauts on long space missions—but they could also be used on Earth in places where surgeons aren’t present, such as rural areas or war zones

Why surgeons and hospitals – not robotics industry – should drive telesurgery’s future adoption

Miller, who witnessed the first telesurgery procedure in 2001, shares his perspective on how surgical robotics has advanced beyond many early barriers to long-distance surgery. He emphasizes that adoption must be driven by user needs, not hype, with success hinging on meeting the daily realities of surgeons, patients, and health systems. This practical, patient-centered conversation explores what’s next for telesurgery.

Resources

IRCAD France

IRCAD offers an exceptional training facility, which welcomes over 8,800 surgeons from all minimally invasive surgical and endoscopic specialties every year. The amazing involvement and self-commitment of more than 800 international experts is key to the Institute’s success. In addition, IRCAD is constantly developing its research departments in the field of computer and robotic technologies applied to surgery and GI endoscopy, in order to always remain in synch with the latest technological developments.

Society of Robotic Surgery

This society is founded on the fundamental principles of education and collaboration as a means to tackle the complex issues of robotic surgery.