In a groundbreaking advancement in modern medicine, Dr. Alberto Breda, Head of Oncological Urology and the Kidney Transplant Surgical Team at Fundació Puigvert in Barcelona, has successfully conducted the world’s first transcontinental partial nephrectomy.
This procedure involved the remote robotic removal of a kidney tumor, with Dr. Breda operating from Bordeaux, France, on a patient located in Beijing, China, over 8,000 kilometers away.
The surgery took place on September 11, 2024, during the 21st annual meeting on robotic surgery organized by the European Association of Urology’s Robotic Urology Section (ERUS), which Dr. Breda has chaired since 2021. The patient, a 37-year-old man with a 3.5-centimeter kidney tumor, was discharged the following day and, a week later, was recovering at home without complications.
To perform this operation, Dr. Breda utilized a remote control console (Edge robotics system) from the auditorium in Bordeaux, maneuvering the robotic arms operating on the patient in Beijing. Despite the vast distance, the latency was only 132 milliseconds, allowing for precise coordination during the surgery.
This milestone signifies a significant advancement in telesurgery, opening possibilities for remote medical interventions and real-time international collaborations. Dr. Breda’s prior experience in telesurgery includes a nephrectomy performed in February 2024 from Orlando, USA, to a hospital in Shanghai, China, over 12,800 kilometers away.
Telesurgery holds the promise of revolutionizing medicine by enabling specialists to perform procedures on patients located in different parts of the world, enhancing access to specialized treatments and reducing geographical barriers in healthcare.
This achievement by Dr. Alberto Breda and his team underscores the importance of international collaboration and technological innovation in contemporary medicine, laying the groundwork for future applications of telesurgery across various medical specialties.