/CFP
China has successfully carried out a 5G remote micron eye surgery with the help of a surgical robot in south China's Hainan Province.
The chief surgeon operated the robotic arm in Haikou City and completed the subretinal therapy for an experimental animal some 600 kilometers away in south China's Guangdong Province.
The surgery took place on June 23 and was confirmed as safe and stable after a month of postoperative observation, said Lin Haotian, a professor at the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of the Sun Yat-sen University.
The micron eye surgical robot was jointly developed by institutions including the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and the School of Computer Science and Engineering of Sun Yat-sen University.
A schematic diagram of the 5G remote micron eye surgery robot. /China Science Daily
Eye surgery requires a high degree of precision and stability from ophthalmologists. However, it is still challenging to perform a micron-level operation due to the physiological tremor and shaking of human hands.
The surgical robot can simulate and replace manual operations, getting rid of manual tremor and shaking, and achieve high-precision surgical operations despite time and space limitations, thanks to 5G remote communication technology.
With the help of 5G communication and ultra-high-definition (UHD) micro-stereoscopic imaging technology, ophthalmologists can obtain low-delay UHD remote microsurgical images in real time, so as to make surgery more accurate, said Lin.
The success of the 5G remote micron eye surgery showed that remote medical services can be expected to promote the balanced and adequate development of ophthalmology across China and address the uneven distribution of high-quality medical resources.
(With input from Xinhua)