Doctors from Scotland and the US Achieve World-First Stroke Surgery With Robotic System
Surgeons from Scotland and America have successfully completed what is believed to be a world-first stroke surgery employing a robot.
The lead surgeon, associated with a Scottish university, performed the remote thrombectomy - the elimination of blood clots after a brain attack - on a human cadaver that had been provided for research.
The professor was located at a medical facility in Dundee, while the body she was operating on while using the machine was separately situated at the research facility.
Later that day, a neurosurgeon from the American state employed the equipment to conduct the pioneering long-distance operation from his American facility on a donated cadaver in Dundee over 4,000 miles away.
The medical group has called it a potential "transformative advancement" if it gains clearance for medical treatment.
The surgeons think this technology could revolutionize stroke care, as a delay in accessing specialist treatment can have a significant effect on the chances of recovery.
"It felt as if we were witnessing the initial vision of the next generation," stated the medical expert.
"While in the past this was considered theoretical concept, we proved that each phase of the procedure can currently be accomplished."
The Scottish institution is the global training center of the international stroke organization, and is the exclusive site in the United Kingdom where doctors can operate on cadavers with biological fluid circulated in the vessels to mimic treatment on a actual patient.
"This represented the pioneering moment that we could execute the complete clot removal operation in a actual human specimen to prove that all steps of the procedure are possible," stated Prof Grunwald.
A charity executive, the head of a health foundation, called the intercontinental surgery as "a significant breakthrough".
"During many years, individuals from remote and rural areas have been denied availability to thrombectomy," she stated.
"This type of automation could rebalance the inequity which exists in stroke treatment throughout Britain."
How does the system function?
An ischaemic stroke takes place when an artery is blocked by a obstruction.
This disrupts circulation and oxygenation to the neural matter, and neural cells lose function and expire.
The optimal therapy is a clot removal, where a surgeon uses medical instruments to extract the blockage.
But what occurs when a patient can't get to a expert who can do the procedure?
The lead researcher stated the experiment proved a robot could be connected to the equivalent surgical tools a specialist would conventionally utilize, and a medic who is attending the case could easily connect the tools.
The expert, in a separate site, could then operate and direct their personal instruments, and the mechanical device then carries out comparable motions in real time on the individual to carry out the clot removal.
The patient would be in a hospital operating room, while the specialist could conduct the surgery using the technological system from any place - even their own home.
Prof Grunwald and the American specialist could view immediate scans of the body in the trials, and observe results in immediate feedback, with the lead researcher saying it took just a brief period of preparation.
Major corporations prominent manufacturers were involved in the initiative to secure the connectivity of the mechanical device.
"To operate from the US to the Scottish nation with a 120 millisecond lag - a blink of an eye - is genuinely extraordinary," stated the neurosurgeon.
The future of stroke treatment
The lead researcher, who has received recognition for her work and is also the executive member of the international medical organization, said there were two main problems with a standard thrombectomy - a international lack of surgeons who can perform it, and care is determined by your location.
In the region, there are only three places people can obtain the treatment - urban centers. If you reside elsewhere, you must travel.
"The intervention is highly dependent on timing," explained the lead researcher.
"Every six minutes delay, you have a 1% less chance of having a good outcome.
"This system would now offer a new way where you're independent of where you reside - conserving the precious time where your neural tissue is degenerating."
Medical statistics showed there were {9,625 ischaemic strokes|numerous cerebral events|