Doctors from the Scottish region and America Achieve World-First Stroke Procedure Via Automated Technology
Medical professionals from the Scottish region and America have performed what is believed to be a historic stroke procedure employing automated systems.
Prof Iris Grunwald, working at a Scottish university, conducted the long-distance surgery - the extraction of blood clots following a brain attack - on a human cadaver that had been donated to medical science.
The professor was located at a medical facility in the Scottish city, while the specimen being treated via the system was at another location at the university.
Hours later, a neurosurgeon from Florida used the system to conduct the pioneering long-distance operation from his Jacksonville base on a human body in Scotland over 4,000 miles away.
The team has described it as a potential "revolutionary development" if it becomes approved for clinical application.
The surgeons believe this innovation could revolutionize cerebral healthcare, as a slow access to specialist treatment can have a significant effect on the chances of recovery.
"It seemed like we were seeing the early preview of the future," said the medical expert.
"Whereas before this was regarded as science fiction, we showed that every step of the procedure can now be performed."
The Scottish institution is the global training center of the global medical association, and is the sole location in the UK where doctors can operate on cadavers with biological fluid pumped through the vessels to replicate operations on a living person.
"This was the first time that we could conduct the whole mechanical thrombectomy procedure in a real human body to demonstrate that every phase of the operation are feasible," said the lead expert.
Juliet Bouverie, the director of a stroke charity, labeled the intercontinental surgery as "a remarkable innovation".
"Over extended periods, people living in isolated regions have been limited in obtaining to surgical intervention," she continued.
"This type of automation could address the disparity which exists in brain care across the UK."
How does the system function?
An blockage stroke occurs when an blood vessel is obstructed by a clot.
This cuts off circulation and oxygenation to the cerebral tissue, and brain cells lose function and expire.
The superior intervention is a surgical extraction, where a expert uses surgical tools to remove the clot.
But what happens when a patient can't get to a specialist who can do the procedure?
The lead researcher explained the trial demonstrated a robot could be attached to the equivalent surgical tools a specialist would normally use, and a medical staff who is attending the case could simply attach the instruments.
The surgeon, in a different place, could then manipulate and control their own wires, and the robot then performs exactly the same movements in real time on the subject to perform the clot removal.
The subject would be in a hospital operating room, while the doctor could carry out the surgery via the technological system from any place - even their private dwelling.
The lead researcher and the neurosurgeon could see real-time imaging of the subject in the trials, and track developments in immediate feedback, with the Dundee expert stating it took merely twenty minutes of training.
Technology companies leading tech firms were participated in the project to ensure the network connection of the mechanical device.
"To operate from the US to Scotland with a 120 millisecond lag - a blink of an eye - is genuinely extraordinary," commented the medical expert.
Innovations in cerebral healthcare
The medical expert, who has been honored for her work and is also the senior official of the global healthcare association, stated there were primary challenges with a standard thrombectomy - a worldwide deficiency of specialists who can conduct it, and intervention relies upon your location.
In the region, there are merely three sites patients can obtain the treatment - three major cities. If you reside elsewhere, you must commute.
"The treatment is very time sensitive," explained the lead researcher.
"Every six minutes delay, you have a 1% less chance of having a positive result.
"This technology would now offer a new way where you're not depending on where you dwell - preserving the valuable minutes where your cerebral matter is otherwise dying."
Healthcare information indicated there were {9,625 ischaemic strokes|numerous cerebral events|