Telerobotic surgery a first
By ALLISON DUNFIELD
Globe and Mail Update
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Surgeons in Hamilton and North Bay, Ont., announced Tuesday they had successfully collaborated on an operation to correct a patient's acid reflux disease using telerobotic 'arms' — a procedure they claim is the first of its kind in Canada.
In Friday's operation, Dr. Mehran Anvari of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton used Computer Motion's ZEUS Surgical System.
ZEUS used sensors to take information from Dr. Anvari's hand, wrist and finger during the surgery, and sent it to robotic instruments controlled by Dr. Craig McKinley of North Bay General Hospital via Bell Canada's Virtual Private Network Enterprise (VPNe)system. Bell's VPNe uses Cisco Multiprotocol Label Switching technology to allow private networks to be created out of Bell's national IP structure.
Dr. McKinley positioned an endoscopic camera and the instruments needed inside the patient's stomach. Motions from Dr. Anvari's hands, transmitted from his ZEUS console located 400 kilometres away from the patient, completed the surgery.
"Both surgeons operate at different times, each accomplishing different tasks," Dr. Anvari, a specialist in minimal access surgery, told a news conference in Hamilton.
The surgery was done on Friday and the patient, Claudette Fortier, told reporters she "had no anxiety whatsoever" about the procedure and is recovering well.
"It sounded a little strange ... but I decided I was going to do it," Ms. Fortier said.
Using telerobotics will enable patients living in remote locations to be able to undergo procedures they would normally have to travel to city locations to receive, Dr. McKinley said. Telerobotic surgery will also assist with medical training, enabling experienced surgeons to assist from a distance those who are still learning.
"The implications of this are far-reaching," Dr. Anvari said.
He called the procedure a "new era in telehealth" and said a similar distance surgery - a gall bladder removal - was performed about a year-and-a half ago but it was done using a specialized, non-commercial network.
"This is the first clinical application of telerobotic surgery," Dr. Anvari said.
Prior to Friday's operation, telehealth had been used in Ontario to allow a doctor in one location to mentor a physician in another location.
"Telerobotics procedures are the next logical step in minimal access surgery to help ensure that communities have access to needed expertise," Dr. McKinley said.
The doctors plan a number of other surgeries in the near future including a bowel operation later this week. They plan to perform other telerobotic operations in other locations as well, including Chicoutimi and Yellowknife.
Benefits of "minimal access surgery" are shorter recovery periods less pain and shorter hospital stays, the doctors said. For the surgeon, the robotic instruments allow for fewer tremors in movements and a decrease in fatigue.
The ZEUS system was cleared by Health Canada in October of 2002 for cardiac and telesurgery use. It was cleared in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration for laparoscopic and general surgery last September.