TABLE 1.
Procedures performed using 5G
| Reference | Month/year of procedure(s) | Summary of the procedure(s) | Procedure duration | Location of clinician(s) | Location of clinician's team/2nd clinician(s)/patient(s)/animal model/cadaver | Distance a | Latency | 5G telecom service provider(s) | Robotic surgery device |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [40] | December 2018 | Hepatectomy on a porcine model (bleeing ~5 ml) | 60 min | Clinician location: Fujian Branch of China Unicom, Fujian, Fuzhou, PRC | Animal model location: Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fujian, Fuzhou, China | ~48 km (~30 miles) | <150 ms |
1. Huawei Technologies Company 2. China Unicom |
Kangduo Robotic Surgery System (Kangduo Robot Co., Ltd.) |
| [41] | 2019 | Evaluation of the performance of 5G | NP | Clinician location: Munich, Germany | Involved camera positioning but no surgical procedures | NP | 2–60 ms | Local setup that is, p2p using 5G transmission technology, provided by Huawei | SoloAssist (AKTORmed) |
| Person/asset track & tracing | |||||||||
| Video data transmission for telesurgery | |||||||||
| Delphi study | |||||||||
| [6, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47] | February 2019 | First 5G tele‐mentored surgery—endoscopic local excision of a rectal polyp on a 65‐year‐old male patient | 118 min | Clinician location: MWC Barcelona 2019, Fira Barcelona Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain | Team location: Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain | Approximately 4 km (2.48 miles) | Average latency time of 202 ms |
1. Vodafone 2. Advances in Surgery (AIS) Channel (an online education portal) |
NP |
| June 2019 | First 5G tele‐assisted surgery in Asia—a 50‐year‐old female undergoing a laparoscopic low anterior resection with natural orifice specimen extraction | 138 min | Clinician 1 location: MWC Shanghai 2019, SNIEC, Shanghai, PRC | Clinician 2 location: Shanghai East Hospital, Shanghai, PRC | Approximately 6 km (3.72 miles) | Average latency of 148 ms | China Mobile | NP | |
| [42] | March 2019 | Deep brain simulation device placement. Three patients (two Parkinson's disease, one essential tremor) were recruited and operated on‐site to install the headframe, craniotomy, and microelectrode puncture in Beijing. The remote‐control group controlled the microelectrode recording and imaging to confirm the implantation of the electrode | NP | Clinician location: Hainan Hospital of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Sanya City, Hainan, PRC | Patients' location: Beijing, PRC | Approximately 2400 km (1491 miles) | Average latency—76 ms |
1. Huawei Technologies 2. China Mobile |
NP |
| [37] | June 2019 | “One‐to‐two” simultaneous remote orthopedic robot‐assisted procedure (pedicle screw placement) | 142.5 ± 46.7 min | Clinician location: Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing, PRC |
Patient location: 1. Shandong Yantaishan Hospital, Yantai, Shandong, PRC 2. Zhejiang Jiaxing Second Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, PRC |
1. Approximately 530 km (329.3 miles) 2. Approximately 1470 km (913.4 miles) (114–3154 km) |
28 ms |
1. China Telecom (Beijing, China) 2. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen, China) |
TiRobot system (co‐designed by Beijing Jishuitan Hospital and TINAVI Medical Technologies Co., Ltd.) |
| August 2019 | “One‐to‐three” simultaneous remote orthopedic robot‐assisted procedure (pedicle screw placement) | 142.5 ± 46.7 min | Clinician location: Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing, PRC |
Patient location: 1. Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin, PRC 2. Hebei Zhangjiakou Second Hospital, Hebei, PRC 3. Xinjiang Karamay Central Hospital, Karamay, Xinjiang, PRC |
1. Approximately 100 km (62.1 miles) 2. Approximately 200 km (124.2 miles) 3. Approximately 3150 km (1957.3 miles) (114– 3154 km) |
28 ms |
1. China Telecom (Beijing, China) 2. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen, China) |
TiRobot system (co‐designed by Beijing Jishuitan Hospital and TINAVI Medical Technologies Co., Ltd.) | |
| [38] | October 2019 |
Transoral laser microsurgery procedures on a human cadaver 1. Ventriculotomy 2. Type 1 cordectomy 3. Type 4 cordectomy |
NP | Clinician location: Vodafone Village, Milan, Italy | Cadaver location: San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy | Approximately 15 km (9.3 miles) | 102 ± 9 ms (maximum latency 280 ms) | Vodafone Italia (5G Radio Access Network with a 1 Gbps bandwidth) |
1. Computer‐assisted laser microsurgery system (CALM)—to control a medical CO2 laser (SmartXid2 C60 DEKA) 2. Panda robot (robotic surgical forceps by Frank Emika) 3. VITOM 3D stereo exoscope (Karl Storz) |
| [48, 49] | November 2019 | The first worldwide immersive surgery (laparoscopic gastrectomy) on a human patient | NP | Clinician 1 location: Auditorium del Massimo in Rome, Italy | Clinician 2 and team location: Saint Mary's Hospital in Terni, Italy | Approximately 129 km (80.1 miles) | NP | TIM 5G | NP |
| [50] | 2020 |
Surgeries on porcine models of around 25 kg 1. Left nephrectomy 2. Partial hepatectomy 3. Cholecystectomy 4. Cystectomy |
120 min | Clinician location: Qingdao, Shangdong, PRC | Animal model location: Anshun, Guizhou, PRC | Approximately 3000 km (1864.1 miles) | Average latency of 264 ms for 5G connection | Public 5G wireless network monitored by China Unicom operators in real time |
1. “MicroHand” surgical robot system (Shandong Weigao Co., Ltd) 2. Assisted by the Hisense computer‐assisted system (CAS) for remote access |
Abbreviations: MWC, Mobile World Congress; NP, not provided; SNIEC, Shanghai New International Expo Center; PRC, People's Republic of China
Exact distance may vary.