Troll
05-19-2006, 2:17pm
World first for technology now able to work by itself
(ANSA) - Rome, May 18 - A robot surgeon has for the first time carried out a long-distance heart operation completely by itself .
The 50-minute surgery, which took place in a Milanese hospital, was carried out on a 34-year-old patient suffering from atrial fibrillation, or 'heart flutters' .
The operation was initiated and monitored on a PC in Boston, USA, by Carlo Pappone, head of Arrhythmia and Cardiac Electrophysiology at Milan's San Raffaele university. Also watching the operation - a world first - were dozens of heart specialists attending an international congress on arrhythmia in the American city .
"This operation has enabled us to cross a new frontier," Pappone said afterwards, suggesting that in the future people could have access to sophisticated surgery wherever they were" .
The Italian expert has used the robot surgeon for at least 40 previous operations, some of which have been described in detail in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology .
The novelty of this latest experience is that the robot was able to conduct the entire procedure by itself. In the past it needed specific orders from its operator along the way .
"It has learned to do the job thanks to experience gathered from operations on 10,000 patients," Pappone said, explaining that the expertise of several human surgeons was used to boost its software .
"The robot can now recognise the type of patient and the required method of operating," he added .
The prototype robot developed by Pappone and his team in Milan, considered a major achievement for Italian medical research, is to be put on sale later this month .
http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-05-18_1186367.html
(ANSA) - Rome, May 18 - A robot surgeon has for the first time carried out a long-distance heart operation completely by itself .
The 50-minute surgery, which took place in a Milanese hospital, was carried out on a 34-year-old patient suffering from atrial fibrillation, or 'heart flutters' .
The operation was initiated and monitored on a PC in Boston, USA, by Carlo Pappone, head of Arrhythmia and Cardiac Electrophysiology at Milan's San Raffaele university. Also watching the operation - a world first - were dozens of heart specialists attending an international congress on arrhythmia in the American city .
"This operation has enabled us to cross a new frontier," Pappone said afterwards, suggesting that in the future people could have access to sophisticated surgery wherever they were" .
The Italian expert has used the robot surgeon for at least 40 previous operations, some of which have been described in detail in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology .
The novelty of this latest experience is that the robot was able to conduct the entire procedure by itself. In the past it needed specific orders from its operator along the way .
"It has learned to do the job thanks to experience gathered from operations on 10,000 patients," Pappone said, explaining that the expertise of several human surgeons was used to boost its software .
"The robot can now recognise the type of patient and the required method of operating," he added .
The prototype robot developed by Pappone and his team in Milan, considered a major achievement for Italian medical research, is to be put on sale later this month .
http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-05-18_1186367.html