Strasbourg. International Robotics Congress: “Telesurgery will become routine”

In 2001, Professor Jacques Marescaux , president and founder of the Digestive Cancer Research Institute (IRCAD), successfully performed the first surgical operation on a patient in Strasbourg from the United States. 24 years later, the World Society for Robotic Surgery (SRS) wished to pay tribute to this historic advance, dubbed the Lindbergh operation. After Orlando and Melbourne, it is in the European capital that it is organizing its international congress this year. 2,500 surgeons from 70 different countries are sharing their time between IRCAD and the Palais des Congrès until Sunday. The program includes plenary sessions to discuss the latest innovations and also to attend live telesurgery demonstrations between Strasbourg, the United States, Japan and China.

This Friday, July 18, for example, Dr. Mohit Bhandari performed a gastric bypass from Ircad on a patient hospitalized in India using an Indian Mantra robot. Four days earlier, for the first time, four control consoles, located in Strasbourg, two others in China (in Beijing and Fuzhou), and the last one in Almaty, Kazakhstan, were connected together. One of the two patients was in Almaty and the other in Fuzhou. From Ircad, Professor Vipul Patel, a surgeon internationally recognized for his expertise in prostate cancer, was able to intervene to assist the surgeons on site. This time, the Chinese robot Sagebot was used.

"Today, all nine Ircad centers around the world can connect simultaneously. There are no longer any geographical barriers. Telesurgery, which was science fiction more than twenty years ago, will become routine. It could provide access to care for all," hopes Jacques Marescaux. "We still need to resolve two major problems: regulation—who is responsible?—and cost."

During the congress, 17 telesurgeries were broadcast live. The latest-generation robots from some twenty companies were exhibited at the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès. A partnership between the robotics company SRS, Ircad, and the World Health Organization was also signed to create a platform dedicated to the development of medical technologies in developing countries within the WHO. Worldwide, between 4.6 and 5 billion men and women lack access to safe, affordable, and timely surgical care.