A Florida surgeon removed a cancerous prostate from a 66-year-old patient located 35 miles away using a remotely controlled robotic system, in what officials are calling the first telerobotic surgery of its kind between two United States hospitals.
Dr. Vipul Patel Performs Remote Prostatectomy in Florida
Dr. Vipul Patel, founder and medical director of the Global Robotics Institute at AdventHealth Celebration in suburban Orlando, carried out the procedure on a patient named Mark. While Patel operated the robotic console in Celebration, the 66-year-old patient was in an operating room 35 miles away at an AdventHealth facility in Minneola.
Study co-principal investigator and surgeon Marcio Moschovas provided onsite support to Mark during the operation. AdventHealth told ABC News that the patient was recovering well following the prostatectomy.
FDA Investigational Exemption and Prior Telesurgeries in Angola
The operation took place under a Food and Drug Administration-approved investigational device exemption. Such authorization permits clinical research studies of the system but does not constitute official FDA approval or clearance.
Prior to the Minneola procedure, 10 investigational telesurgeries were conducted between Orlando, Florida, and Luanda, Angola, spanning a distance of more than 7,000 miles. The Sunday operation marked the study’s expansion into US hospitals.
Researchers Evaluate Safety and Cybersecurity Risks Before Mass Adoption
Medical practitioners caution that Sunday’s procedure does not mean the technology is ready for mass adoption or that its general clinical performance has been established. Researchers are still evaluating safety, reliability, and potential cybersecurity risks alongside connectivity failures.
“For generations, access to highly specialized care has often depended on where a patient lives,” Patel said in a statement provided by AdventHealth. “This study allows us to evaluate whether telesurgery could one day help reduce geographic barriers to specialized treatment.”
Questions About Remote Robotic Surgery
What specific risks are associated with robotic prostate surgery?
A standard robotic prostatectomy carries risks including bleeding, infection, incontinence, and erectile dysfunction, along with the possibility of converting to open surgery. Telesurgery introduces additional technical hazards such as equipment or connection failures and potential cybersecurity threats.
How does this Florida operation compare to other recent procedures?
The Minneola surgery followed a headline-making operation months earlier in which a surgeon in London used a four-armed robot with a 3D camera to remove a prostate in Gibraltar, approximately 1,500 miles away, with a signal lag of just 0.06 seconds.
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