In 2019, Chinese Doctors managed to insert a stimulation device in the brain of a patient with Parkinson’s while the patient was 1900 miles away (Frost, 2019). The procedure was conducted using robotics, but it was truly made possible by 5G. 5G decreased the latency to near instantaneous, with only 2 milliseconds between devices, making it possible for the surgeons to have the procedure as if they were in the very same room. This blog post will delve into the potential benefits of remote surgeries, as well as the limitations that must be overcome.
The primary benefits of the technological application, over the standard in-person procedure, are cost benefits, timely access, and quality of medical training. As Frost (2019) explicates, the ability for a surgeon to conduct remote surgeries means that their utility increases. Whereas beforehand they were constrained by their location, specialists can now perform surgeries from one location, with their patients being at completely other locations. Instead of having to pick and choose which patient to perform surgery on, the surgeon can now cure more patients because they do not have to waste time on travelling. By increasing surgeon’s utility, costs decrease and more importantly, more lives can be saved.
Expanding on this, imagine a scenario where a patient is rushed into the hospital with severe brain hemorrhaging. However, he cannot be treated because the specialist is miles away. Using 5G, a remote surgeon could save the patient’s life by operating very quickly. Timely access is key in successful surgeries (Marrick, 2017), and 5G remote surgeries enable this.
Lastly, a primary benefit of remote surgeries is improved medical training (Cahill, 2017). Specialists can demonstrate their techniques live to a class remotely, and answer questions along the way. This is more insightful than a lecture, and more interactive than a video demonstration. Hence, quality of education can be improved.
Although remote surgeries certainly have a promising future in the Healthcare industry, there currently exist limitations preventing normalization. First, there are still risks of high latency, which have a detrimental impact on surgical performance (Cahill, 2017). Hence, a more stable 5G network needs to be established before 5G remote surgeries can truly take off. Secondly, costs of remote surgical equipment are significantly larger compared to the standard surgery procedures. Nevertheless, the expectation is that costs will drop rapidly following innovations (Cahill, 2017). In addition, it is worth noting that the additional costs could well be worth it if they end up saving additional lives. Ultimately, it is unlikely that surgeons will ever have a stay at home job, as the medical equipment necessitated for remote 5G surgeries is far too complex. However, it seems like only a matter of time until remote surgeries will become prevalent in healthcare, to the great benefit of patients, and medical students.
References
Cahill, D. J. (2017). Telesurgery: Surgery in the Digital Age. DARTMOUTH UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, 19(3). https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=dujs
Frost, C. (2019, August 16). 5G is being used to perform remote surgery from thousands of miles away, and it could transform the healthcare industry. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.nl/5g-surgery-could-transform-healthcare-industry-2019-8?international=true&r=US
Marrick. (2017, May 2). 4 Reasons why Timely Medical Treatment is Important after an Accident. Marrick Medical. https://www.marrick.com/timely-medical-treatment/
Interesting article Sean! I’ve always been quite impressed with the seemingly unlimited innovation in healthcare. These innovations are creating so many opportunities and, as you say, save lives, which is most important in the end. However, I always feel as if the risks of these innovations are as high as the rewards. For example, do you have any idea what the plan would have been if the connection froze? Or if a bad connection would’ve caused more delay in the handling of the robotic arms? Truly interested!
Hi Sean, interesting blog!
As the daughter of a doctor I tend to hear snippets of new technologies in surgical healthcare, but I had never heard of completely remote surgery. I think the possibilities with this technology are amazing and am curious to see where it will head. There’s a couple of additional things that I think the industry will need to ‘solve’ to be able to use this technology to its full potential.
This technology would be especially beneficial in remote, or underdeveloped areas I think, but costs may be too high to deploy it there. But if as you say costs will drop rapidly that would be good. Unfortunately, it’s likely that these types of technologies will be used first in the most developed countries that maybe need it less, but it’s what is necessary to fund the innovation.
One thing that will be interesting to see, and I think is a hurdle that will need to be crossed if/when this technology will be deployed, is let’s say the “payment for services”. Hospitals are still companies that need to earn money, and especially for very specialized care, I do not expect them to simply lend out the expertise of their specialists to other hospitals without receiving something in return. This could maybe lead to new types of contracts or maybe alliances between hospitals where they “share” their specialists, however the latter would go a bit against the good of this technology and its opportunity to help specialists help as many people possible.
In any way, I’m excited to learn about it!
Very interesting article and sources! This is the first time I’m hearing about the possibilities of having remote surgery. I have witnessed many situations in which a remote surgery could have helped patients enormously. I believe that undeveloped countries could most strongly benefit from it, due to the lack of skilled medical personnel and equipment, as well as lack of resources to travel, the possibility of a remote surgery would indeed save millions of lives. However, I wonder when will the 5G connection we have today be trustable enough to sustain a prolonged operation with complete accuracy. I think that especially in microscopic operations even a 2 milliseconds lag could be damaging. Still, it seems like a promising technology that will improve the quality of life for millions. Thanks for the interesting read.
Hi Sean, thanks for sharing this information. I think it is a really interesting topic. A great example of how technological improvements can enable us to make a big jump in the quality and accessibility of healthcare all over the world. Cool that we are so close to broader adoption.
Nevertheless, I was wondering whether robots that use algorithms and databases (and not humans) are not going to surpass this technological improvement. When are we going to eliminate human’s proneness to make errors? Just wanted to exchange thoughts, what is your view on this?
Thanks for the interesting read Sean, it is very well-written! It is truly beyond me how technology within the healthcare industry has advanced to a level where remote surgery is possible. I like how you structured the blog, including the possibilities and benefits remote surgery could offer while also making us aware of the limitations. I am very much curious to see what the next step would be; perhaps we will even see fully robotic surgeries supported by AI..? But of course, there are ethical considerations that have to be kept in mind. I also wonder in what way the healthcare education system will be reshaped in the sense that students will have to learn to operate the devices for remote surgery as part of the standard curriculum.
Hey Sean! Great post about this topic. It is fascinating to me to see how technology is enabling us to do things we would have never expected. As you mentioned, there are so many fatalities due to doctors not having the skills to perform certain surgeries. The difficulty of operating on someone can end detrimental if the doctor’s training has not been sufficient. I recently came across the topic of telesurgery, and I am convinced that this method of working will become the standard in the future. Indeed, there are still several limitations. However, I believe that these are all hurdles society will overcome in the future. Especially, having a secure and stable 5G connection seems reasonable to achieve. It is great to see how beneficial technologies like the one described can be to society. Sadly, I feel like that advanced tech is often displayed as being very dystopian, whereas multiple advancements will be able to improve the quality of life such as the one mentioned above. I’m looking forward to monitoring tech in healthcare more closely over the next years and observe how telesurgery, BCI’s but also VR and AR can improve the ways of working.
That’s an extraordinary piece of technology. It’s great that it allows remote Healthcare and I think that this can improve certain surgeries, especially when a hospital does not have the capabilities at that moment.
However, I wonder how this can be widely applied since it requires a stable connection, advanced (and probably expensive) technologies. Besides that, the surgeon cannot influence the external circumstances within the hospital where the patient is, which means that additional help from other surgeons need to be well coordinated.
Overall, I think this is a great development, but it is still in an early phase.