A team of Chinese surgeons in Shanghai successfully performed ultra-remote robot-assisted lung cancer surgery on a patient at the Second People’s Hospital of Kashi in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, located in northwestern China.

Led by Dr. Luo Qingquan from Shanghai Chest Hospital, the over one-hour operation was conducted ultra-remotely using 5G technology, spanning a distance of over 3,000 miles (comparable to London to Boston).

The patient, a middle-aged woman, had a growing lump in her right lung that was detected three years previously.

Dr. Luo operated the Chinese-made MicroPort MedBot™ Toumai™ Laparoscopic Surgical Robot from Shanghai Chest Hospital using a 3D display screen and a master controller to view real-time images of the patient’s chest cavity, while precisely manipulating the robotic arm to extract a tumour.