An Indian-origin surgeon in London has created history by successfully performing the UK’s first long‑distance robotic operation on a patient located around 2,400 km away in Gibraltar.
Professor Prokar Dasgupta, a world-leading robotic urological surgeon and a Padma Shri awardee who heads The London Clinic’s Robotic Centre of Excellence, said his two test cases were an excellent example of the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Dasgupta said it felt “almost as if I was there" as he carried out a prostate removal on Paul Buxton, according toBBC. Buxton, 62, who received a shock prostate cancer diagnosis just after Christmas, said he “jumped at the chance" to be the first patient to undergo the treatment remotely as part of a trial.
“If I hadn’t gone for the telesurgery in Gibraltar, then I would have had to have flown to London, I would have had to go on the NHS waiting list, get the procedure done and I would have probably been in London for three weeks. So I thought: ‘This is a no‑brainer’," he said.
The operation was carried out on February 11 from The London Clinic using a robot equipped with a 3D HD camera and four arms, all controlled through a console with a delay of only 0.06 seconds. The operation used MicroPort’s Toumai Robotic System, in a collaboration between The London Clinic and the Gibraltar Health Authority.
The console in the UK was connected to the robot in Gibraltar via fibre-optic cables with a backup 5G link. A team in Gibraltar remained on standby in case the connection failed, but it held throughout the procedure.
“This gives us the opportunity to treat patients in remote areas and smaller communities by literally being able to take the best surgeon anywhere," Dasgupta said. He will perform the procedure again on March 14, which will be live‑streamed to 20,000 world‑leading urological surgeons at the European Association of Urology Congress.
“This is an excellent example of teamwork, friendship, international determination and responsible AI to make this happen after a year of planning," the surgeon said. Meanwhile, Buxton said he was “really well looked after" and was “feeling fantastic" following the operation.
According toBBC, the remote robotic surgery could spare future patients the “vast expense and inconvenience" of travelling for treatment, and help deliver better healthcare to people in more remote locations.
Dasgupta, who was born in Odisha and spent his childhood in Lucknow, was the first to become the Professor of Robotic Surgery at the prestigious King’s College London. In 2005, he was involved with a team that used robotic surgery to retrieve a kidney for kidney transplantation. He was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions in the field of medicine in 2022.
Source: World News in news18.com, World Latest News, World News
