History was created on Wednesday after the world's first-in-human telerobotic coronary intervention was conducted in Ahmedabad. The surgery was conducted by Dr Tejal Patel, the Chief Interventional Cardiologist at Apex Heart Institute in Ahmedabad.
The patient, a middle-aged woman belonging to middle class, was at the catherization lab of the hospital in Ahmedabad, while Dr Patel guided the robot to perform the surgery from the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, around 32 kilometres away.
The surgery was performed using JIO band on 100 MBPS speed.
Dr Patel said that this is the world's first percutaneous coronary intervention conducted from a remote location outside the catherization lab. The CorPath technology of Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc was also used.
The procedure barely took 15 minutes. A team of cardiologists was placed on standby with the patient to take over the surgery manually, should something go wrong technically or in the event of internet failure.
The stent in one artery of the woman was placed a few days ago through a regular procedure. On Wednesday, the stenting was done in the other artery using telerobotic technology.
Dr Patel said that this technology has immense potential for using in remote locations of the country. All that is required is a catherization lab, a robot and a good internet connectivity.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was present on the occasion, said they will explore the possibility of seeing how this technology can be used in remote locations and also for jawans serving on the border.
