A Florida-based surgeon has made medical history by remotely performing cancer surgery on a patient located over 7,000 miles away in Angola, Africa. The procedure was the first transcontinental robotic telesurgery conducted under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clinical trial.
The patient, a 67-year-old man diagnosed with prostate cancer in March, underwent a prostatectomy — a surgery to remove all or part of the prostate, often used to treat prostate cancer and improve survival outcomes. Increasingly, these procedures are carried out using robotic systems due to their precision and reduced recovery times.
Although robotic-assisted surgeries are now common, this was the first time such a procedure was performed remotely across continents. Dr. Vipul Patel, medical director of the Global Robotic Institute at Advent Health in Orlando, operated the robot from Florida while the patient remained in Angola, supported by an on-site medical team.
Patel and his team had spent two years preparing for the procedure. “We traveled the globe, looking at the right technologies,” he told ABC News. He emphasized that contingency plans were in place and a full team was stationed with the patient. “We made sure we had plan A, B, C, and D. I always have my team where the patient is,” he said.
The surgery went smoothly, without complications. Patel now plans to submit clinical data from the operation to the FDA in hopes of conducting similar procedures in the future.
He believes this breakthrough could reshape healthcare delivery. “Emergency room physicians will have technology that can be remotely accessible to surgeons, maybe even in the ambulance,” Patel said, highlighting the potential for life-saving interventions when hospital access is limited.
