Heart operation performed with robotic arm

The technique, designed to cure irregular heart beats, involved using a Remote Catheter Manipulation System (RCMS) to steer catheters into blood vessels at the top of the groin and into the heart.

Electrodes on the catheters then stimulated different regions of the heart to diagnose rogue areas of tissue causing the abnormality. Once these area were identified, the RCMS placed a further catheter in location to ablate the tissue and cure the problem.

The procedure, which can take over six hours, is currently carried out by surgeons who risk being exposed to radiation during surgery. ‘We wear heavy lead aprons to guard against this, but we are only human and you can imagine we get very tired standing for that long,’ explained Dr Andre Ng, who carried out the operation.

‘Using the robotic arm I could do the entire operation remotely from another room…What I found from the experience is that the robot exactly replicated what I would normally do with my hands, and I could manipulate the catheter making very minute increments of movement.’