The demand for telesurgery is rising rapidly, but robust evidence regarding the feasibility of its application in urology is still rare. From March to October 2021, a surgeon-controlled surgical robot in a tertiary hospital in Qingdao was used to remotely conduct robot-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (RN) in 29 patients located in eight primary hospitals. The median round-trip delay was 26 ms (interquartile range [IQR] 5) and the median distance between the primary hospital and the surgeon was 187 km (IQR 57). Both the master unit and the slave unit were guaranteed by network and mechanical engineers, and surgical assistants were well prepared on the patient side to prevent complications. The primary evaluation metric was the success rate, defined as the percentage of patients who underwent successful remote RN without conversion to other surgical procedures and no major intraoperative or postoperative complications. The results demonstrate that the combination of 5G technology and surgical robots is a novel potential telemedicine-based therapy choice for renal tumors.

Patient summary

Our study shows that telesurgery using 5G technology is a safe and feasible treatment option for patients with kidney tumors. The total delay between the remote location and the operating rooms where surgery was being performed was just 200 ms. This approach could reduce health care costs and improve the quality of medical services accessed by patients.

中文翻译：

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5G技术改进机器人辅助腹腔镜远距手术在泌尿外科的应用

对远程手术的需求正在迅速上升，但关于其在泌尿外科应用可行性的有力证据仍然很少。2021年3月至2021年10月，青岛市某三甲医院外科医生控制的手术机器人远程对8家基层医院的29例患者进行机器人辅助腹腔镜肾癌根治术（RN）。中位往返延迟为 26 毫秒（四分位数间距 [IQR] 5），基层医院与外科医生之间的中位距离为 187 公里（IQR 57）。主从机均有网络和机械工程师保障，手术助手在患者侧做好充分准备，防止并发症发生。主要评估指标是成功率，定义为成功接受远程 RN 而未转为其他外科手术且无重大术中或术后并发症的患者百分比。结果表明，5G 技术与手术机器人的结合是肾肿瘤远程医疗的一种新型潜在治疗选择。

患者总结

我们的研究表明，使用 5G 技术的远程手术对于肾肿瘤患者来说是一种安全可行的治疗选择。远程位置和进行手术的手术室之间的总延迟仅为 200 毫秒。这种方法可以降低医疗保健成本并提高患者获得的医疗服务质量。