CELEBRATION, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Have you ever tried to move your computer’s mouse and the on-screen cursor didn’t respond right away? It can be frustrating, but it’s nothing compared to what some surgeons are facing. Researchers and doctors are trying to beat a surgical snafu that’s hindering a breakthrough.
Jannett Matthews has had two robotic surgeries: one for weight loss, one to remove her gallbladder.
“It’s really exciting to see how far I’ve come,” Jannett Mathews told Ivanhoe.
Her surgeons were just feet away, but what if they were far way? Robotic surgery has been done, “at a distance of five or 600 miles,” Roger Smith, PhD, Chief Technology Officer at Florida Hospital Nicholson Center, told Ivanhoe.
But telesurgery expert Roger Smith says operating from more than 100 miles from a patient is a big challenge because of internet lag. It causes delays between when a surgeon moves his hands, to when the robot responds.
“Above half a second you see some of them totally fall apart,” Dr. Smith said.
While doctors can’t speed up communication technology, they could adapt to it.
“Move and pause a second. Move and pause a second,” Dr. Smith explained.
Smith is conducting studies with surgeons to help them get used to the lag.
Exercises simulate the delays.
“If the latency is very high you sometimes feel frustrated. The more exercises you do the better you get,” Robotic Urology Fellow, Haidar Abdul Mushin, told Ivanhoe.
Smith says if doctors do adjust their techniques to deal with lag or if telecommunications catch up to surgical robots.
“The best surgeon in the world could be on call for the most critical cases in the world,” Dr. Smith said.
A four million dollar grant from department of defense is funding smith’s telesurgery study. He’s still recruiting surgeons, along with performing telesurgeries across the US. The hope is someday doctors stateside could perform surgery on wounded warriors in battlefield hospitals overseas. MORE
Click here for Ivanhoe's full-length interview with Dr. Roger Smith
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Andrew Mcintosh at amcintosh@ivanhoe.com
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