🔗 Share this article

Doctors from Scotland and America have performed what is believed to be a historic stroke surgery employing a robot.

The medical expert, working at a research center, performed the long-distance surgery - the elimination of circulatory obstructions following a brain attack - on a medical specimen that had been provided for research.

The surgeon was positioned in a treatment center in Dundee, while the specimen being treated with the machine was across the city at the university.

Later that day, a medical specialist from the US location employed the system to conduct the first transatlantic surgery from his American facility on a medical specimen in Dundee over 6,400km away.

The medical group has called it a potential "game changer" if it gains clearance for use on patients.

The doctors think this system could revolutionize stroke treatment, as a delay in accessing specialist treatment can have a significant effect on the recovery prospects.

"It felt as if we were witnessing the initial vision of the next generation," said Prof Grunwald.

"While in the past this was considered theoretical concept, we demonstrated that each phase of the surgery can already be done."

The University of Dundee is the international education hub of the international stroke organization, and is the only place in the UK where surgeons can work with cadavers with biological fluid pumped through the arteries to replicate operations on a actual patient.

"This marked the initial occasion that we could conduct the whole mechanical thrombectomy procedure in a genuine medical subject to show that each stage of the procedure are achievable," explained Prof Grunwald.

Juliet Bouverie, the head of a health foundation, called the long-distance operation as "an extraordinary advancement".

"During many years, people living in countryside locations have been limited in obtaining to surgical intervention," she added.

"Robotics like this could correct the imbalance which occurs in brain care throughout Britain."

How does the system function?

An brain attack takes place when an vascular pathway is clogged by a clot.

This disrupts blood and oxygen supply to the neural matter, and brain cells stop functioning and deteriorate.

The best treatment is a thrombectomy, where a surgeon uses medical instruments to extract the blockage.

But what transpires when a patient is unable to reach a specialist who can do the procedure?

The lead researcher stated the trial proved a automated system could be attached to the same catheters and wires a doctor would normally use, and a healthcare professional who is attending the case could easily connect the tools.

The expert, in a separate site, could then manipulate and control their individual tools, and the robot then carries out exactly the same movements in immediate sequence on the subject to carry out the thrombectomy.

The patient would be in a hospital operating room, while the specialist could perform the procedure with the automated equipment from any place - even their personal residence.

The medical expert and the American specialist could observe live X-rays of the specimen in the studies, and monitor progress in immediate feedback, with the Scottish specialist stating it took merely twenty minutes of training.

Technology companies leading tech firms were involved in the project to ensure the connectivity of the automated system.

"To conduct procedures from the America to the Scottish nation with a 120 millisecond lag - an instant - is absolutely amazing," commented Dr Hanel.

Innovations in cerebral healthcare

Prof Grunwald, who has been honored for her contributions and is also the executive member of the World Federation for Interventional Stroke Treatment, said there were key issues with a traditional procedure - a global shortage of doctors who can conduct it, and treatment depends on your physical place.

In Scotland, there are merely three sites people can receive the procedure - Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh. If you don't live there, you must commute.

"The treatment is highly dependent on timing," stated the lead researcher.

"For every six minutes of waiting, you have a 1% less chance of having a good outcome.

"This innovation would now deliver a new way where you're not reliant upon where you dwell - conserving the crucial moments where your cerebral matter is degenerating."

Medical statistics showed there were {9,625 ischaemic strokes|numerous cerebral events|