Florida doctor performs remote prostate removal 35 miles away
The procedure marks the first telerobotic surgery between two US hospitals, though the FDA has not yet cleared the technology.
By Rahul Garnier ·
A surgeon in Florida removed a prostate from a patient located 35 miles away on Sunday.
Dr. Vipul Patel, medical director of the Global Robotics Institute at AdventHealth Celebration, performed the operation. The patient, a 66-year-old man identified as Mark, lay at a separate AdventHealth facility in Minneola. Patel operated from the Celebration site. This marks the first time a telerobotic surgery has connected two hospitals within the United States.
Patel stated that specialized care has historically depended on a patient's location. He said the study aims to evaluate if telesurgery can reduce geographic barriers to treatment. The procedure was part of a clinical research study conducted under an FDA-approved investigational device exemption. This authorization allows for study but does not constitute full FDA approval.
The Florida surgery followed ten prior investigational telesurgeries between Orlando and Luanda, Angola. AdventHealth officials said the study expanded to US hospitals with this recent case. Mark was recovering well after the procedure, according to ABC. Surgeon Marcio Moschovas provided on-site support to the patient during the operation.
Researchers are still assessing the safety, reliability, and cybersecurity of remote robotic instruments. AdventHealth noted that no prior reports documented a telesurgery between two US locations. The system did not establish general clinical performance with this single case. Standard risks of robotic prostatectomy include bleeding, infection, incontinence, and erectile dysfunction. Telesurgery adds risks of equipment failure or connection issues, requiring an on-site team to take over if needed.
This procedure followed a similar high-profile operation just months earlier. A surgeon in London used a four-armed robot with a 3D camera to remove a prostate in Gibraltar. That distance spanned approximately 1,500 miles. The London-Gibraltar surgery succeeded with a lag of 0.06 seconds between the surgeon's movements and the robot's response.
Source: The Guardian
