UroToday – Remote Telepresence Surgery: The Canadian Experience
This important report from Canada presents 22 telerobotic general surgery laparoscopy cases performed by two surgeons over a distance of 400 kilometers; from a teaching hospital in Hamilton, Ontario to a community hospital in rural Northern Ontario.
I think it is very important that robotic surgery can be done at a distant. Reading over the limitations of robotic surgery makes it clear that it is not ready for regular use, but with technology increasing rapidly I think the bandwith issue will be resolved.
There are also more and more robots in use every month. I think the first clinical application will be in robotic teleproctoring. I can see proctoring someone who is far away with the ability to remotely operate if it is necessary. This would be ideal to teach someone who has a solid robotic background a new procedure.