Doctors at the University of Dundee as well as in the US have completed what is believed to be the world’s first stroke surgery using a robot.

Specialist surgeons guided the remote stroke procedure from different hospitals in Dundee and Florida, demonstrating what is being called the first ‘transatlantic surgery.”

Full end-to-end thrombectomies were performed using non-living subjects with prodecure-authentic pathology in the Image Guided Therapy Research Facility (IGTRF) at the University of Dundee.

Two distinguished operators performed remote stroke interventions. World renowned endovascular neurosurgeon Ricardo Hanel, MD, PhD, co-medical director of the Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center performed the transatlantic procedure, operating from Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville on a unique, perfused human cadaver model located at Dundee University in Scotland.

Professor Iris Grunwald, MD, PhD, interventional neuroradiologist, also performed a remote stroke thrombectomy in the same location from a remote hospital in Dundee. She is a global leader in interventional stroke treatment training, and pioneered the use of AI in diagnostic stroke imaging.

The two surgeries were performed within hours of each other, with the doctor using remote technology to operate the robots performing the surgeries.

The technology was produced by Sentante, a med-tech robotics company, as part of the Nvidia Inception Programme which allowed the company to use state-of-the-art technologies purpose built for developing healthcare robots.

The technology relies on a haptic endovascular robotic platform using standard catheterisation laboratory equipment connected to a device equipped with a high resolution sensory system that captures the specialist’s hand movements.

These manipulations are replicated in real time by a robot at the patient’s besides, whether metres or thousands of miles away.

Unlike joystick-controlled surgical robots, Sentante delivers authentic force feedback directly to the surgeon’s fingertips – recreating the tactile experience of manual surgery.

The University of Dundee is the official global training centre of the World Federation for Interventional Stroke Treatment (WIST), housing a unique surgical environment with human models for research and device testing under authentic conditions – before moving into patient trials.

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The procedure also evaluated network performance and latency over the transatlantic link, with Sentante partnering with Mischa Dohler, VP of Emerging Technologies at Ericsson, in establishing multi-path connectivity to maintain a stable, secure connection for mission-critical use.

“This is undoubtedly one of the most exciting innovations in stroke intervention in the last decade,” Professor Iris Grunwald said.

“What amazed me most was how tactile the experience was. My hands felt exactly as they usually would if I had been doing a conventional thrombectomy. Sentante is at the forefront of innovation, and has created a viable solution to a major global healthcare problem. For most patients transported to a thrombectomy centre, treatment comes too late.

“Remote robotics has the power to decouple expertise from geography. Our demonstration shows that a specialist can perform a technically demanding neurovascular intervention from thousands of miles away, perhaps even from their home. It was an honour to perform the first remote thrombectomy in a human body and to then be part of the team that delivered the first transatlantic thrombectomy.”