A Florida surgeon has removed cancer 7,000 miles away using remote-controlled robot

A Florida-based surgeon used a robot to remotely perform surgery on a cancer patient thousands of miles away in Angola, Africa. 

The 67-year-old patient was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March. 

Following his diagnosis he became the first patient for a Food and Drug Administration clinic trial of transcontinental robotic telesurgery.

The ground-breaking surgery has been hailed as a success.

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The robot allowed the surgeon to remotely perform surgery

Robotic technology has made huge advances in recent years and is being used across more and more industries, including medicine. 

We’ve previously seen an AI-powered dentist that is able to complete a procedure eight times quicker than a human, and a world’s first when a surgeon performed an operation using Apple Vision Pro. 

Now, Vipul Patel, surgeon and medical director of the Global Robotic Institute at Orlando’s Advent Health, has made history after performing a prostatectomy from thousands of miles away. 

A prostatectomy involves removing all of or part of the prostate and can cure prostate cancer and dramatically improve survival odds. 

Recently, many of these surgeries have been carried out using robot technology.

There are several benefits to using a robot, like it being more precise and generally having a quicker recovery time. 

Typically, the surgeon performing the procedure, with robot assistance, is nearby. 

However, this is the first time a robot has been used to remotely perform surgery while the surgeon is thousands of miles away on another continent. 

Although transatlantic robotic surgery is new, Patel told ABC News that he and his team had been working on it for the last two years. 

“We traveled the globe, looking at the right technologies,” he told the outlet.

The technology could have a major impact on medicine

While Patel was miles away from his patient, his medical team were in Angola just in case any problems arose.

“We made sure we had plan A, B, C, and D. I always have my team where the patient is,” Patel said.

Fortunately, that wasn’t necessary, and the surgery went off without a hitch. 

Patel is now planning to submit data he gathered from the procedure to the FDA in the hopes he can perform similar surgeries in the future.

Patel thinks the technology could have big implications for the world of medicine. 

“Emergency room physicians will have technology that can be remotely accessible to surgeons, maybe even in the ambulance, where people can get remote interventions if they can’t make it to the hospital,” he added.