Successful remote single-arm robotic surgery in China's Xizang

LHASA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- China has completed a remote single-arm robotic surgery for a patient in the country's Xizang Autonomous Region, marking a major breakthrough in combining medical technology with information technology.

This surgery was jointly conducted by the region's maternity and children's hospital and Sichuan University West China Second University Hospital, according to the regional health commission on Tuesday.

The patient was a 48-year-old woman with anemia caused by multiple uterine fibroids, who required urgent surgical treatment.

After careful preoperative evaluation and planning, the surgical team decided to use the single-arm robot to perform the surgery through a 2.5-centimeter incision on the patient's navel.

An endoscope and a flexible instrument were inserted into the abdominal cavity through this incision. Compared with traditional laparoscopic surgery, the flexible rotating robotic wrist not only greatly improves the accuracy and efficiency of the operation -- but also minimizes surgical trauma and significantly shortens the postoperative pain and recovery period.

Zheng Ying, a professor at Sichuan University West China Second University Hospital, successfully completed the remote operation from a distance of 2,000 kilometers. The procedure took 105 minutes and was subject to a two-way network delay of only about 40 milliseconds.

Zheng's experienced team has completed more than 25,000 single-incision laparoscopic surgeries, including over 1,200 cases involving malignant tumors.

The single-incision surgery robot, featuring an increased field of vision, is able to realize accurate functioning. It reduced both blood loss and surgical risk during the recent operation. In addition, rapid and safe sampling actions during surgery can limit residual lesions and postoperative recurrence to the greatest extent currently possible.

This surgical robot is a high-end medical equipment item independently developed by China.

Remote robotic surgery can improve medical treatment access for patients, balance medical treatment levels across regions and alleviate the challenges of uneven distribution of medical resources in case of emergencies.

Such telemedicine options will allow more people in remote areas to benefit from modern medical care, said Wang Tao, head of Xizang regional maternity and children's hospital.

China has reported an increased amount of bidding invitations and announced a greater number of winning bids regarding surgical robots in the country's hospitals in recent years. Among these -- endoscopic, orthopedic and neurosurgical robots have proved popular options.

The market value of China's surgical robot sector is projected to reach 38.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2026, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate that significantly outpaces the global average, according to a recent industry research report.