Surgeons carry out first transatlantic operation

Surgeons in New York have carried out the world's first transatlantic operation using remote controlled robots to remove a woman's gall bladder.

The procedure was carried out by three French surgeons at a control console equipped with monitor screens.

Delicate movements of the surgeons' hands in New York were electronically transmitted to an operating theatre in Strasbourg. There, a set of robot arms obeyed their commands.

The gall bladder was successfully removed in just under an hour, after the operation which was conducted over a distance of 4,300 miles.

The 68-year-old patient was discharged from Strasbourg Civil Hospital 48 hours later.

So-called "telemedicine" is not new, but has up to now been confined to providing communication links and a limited degree of surgical assistance.

This is the first time surgeons have completed a long distance remote-controlled operation.

The biggest hurdle to long distance telesurgery is the time lag caused by transmitting information along telecommunication lines.

A high-speed optical network helped to speed up data transmission for the gall bladder procedure, given the name Operation Lindbergh after Charles Lindbergh, who made the first flight across the Atlantic in 1927.

Data travelling between the two locations made a round trip of more than 8,000 miles, resulting in a delay of 155 milliseconds between the surgeons' movements and those of the robots. The estimated "latency" safety limit is 330 milliseconds.

The technique was developed by a joint French and US team led by Professor Jacques Marescaux from the IRCAD European Institute of Telesurgery, at Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg.