Heart Surgery is Getting More Technical – Literally

According to Interesting Engineering, telemedicine is making leaps and bounds in cardiology.

Telemedicine, which combines robotics, mixed reality and communications to deliver care to patients in remote locations, enabled a surgeon to perform five different heart surgeries on patients 20 miles away from him. Through the help of high speed internet, cameras, and the CorPath GRX robot in the operating room, patients suffering from atherosclerosis (when plaque builds up in blood vessels and restricts blood flow) received stents by the surgeon. The event marks the “first long-distance heart surgery,” Interesting Engineering says.

“Remote procedures have the potential to transform how we deliver care when treating the most time-sensitive illnesses such as heart attack and stroke. The success of this study paves the way for large-scale, long-distance telerobotic platforms across the globe,” Mark Toland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Corindus Vascular Robotics, said in a press statement. “It is clear we are on track to expand patients’ access to care, while reducing their time to treatment.”

Takeaways for Decision Makers

While this case study demonstrates how technology is evolving in the medical space, telemedicine is not a new trend or solution. In facts, Interesting Engineering says that it’s been around for a while, and used all over the globe. For example, NASA oversaw one of the first virtual clinics back in the 1990’s to give astronauts medical care; the United States military adopted telemedicine to give medical care to soldiers fighting long distances; and the University of Virginia utilized telemedicine to combat the Ebola crisis.

However, medical technologies are becoming literal lifesavers for decision makers like doctors and other medical staff – they can help with nurse and doctor shortages while still giving patients immediate care, Interesting Engineering says. They can also help decentralize the healthcare vertical, and make healthcare more accessible to patients. “This is a field that is here to stay and grow,” Interesting Engineering says.