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Telesurgery PDA Robotics
Dr. Louis Kavoussi uses the Internet to lend expertise to operating
rooms all over the world.
With the help of the Internet and telecommunications technology, this
doctor in Baltimore, Maryland can operate on patients all over the
world without leaving his home office. Working from home using a PC
and four ISDN lines, Dr. Kavoussi of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical
Center controls robotic surgical tools and cameras remotely, and can
transmit and view images in real time.
During surgery, Kavoussi can view either the operating room or inside
the patient. He can also give surgeons written assistance and operate a
device that burns and seals tissue, as well as control robots that hold
cameras or place needles in the patient’s body.
“Our applications have been used specifically for what’s called mini-
mal invasive surgery,” said Kavoussi. “Examples of that are laparo-
scopies, putting a little tube in the stomach to look around;
arthroscopy, looking at knee joints; and thoracoscopy, looking at the
chest.”

Operations of the Future
With the help of high-speed data lines and advanced robotics, sur-
geons will eventually be able to perform and complete operations
remotely from anywhere in the world.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this is the way surgical care is per-
formed in the future,” Kavoussi said.
Doctors in New York took telemedicine one step further when they
used a dedicated fiber-optic line and a remote-control robot to remove
the gall bladder of a patient in an operating room in France—more
than 4,000 miles away.

Telesurgery may also be employed during future space exploration.
Traveling to Mars and back may take three or more years, during
which time astronauts may need access to medical and surgical care.

The da Vinci Robotic System. The da Vinci Surgical System is inte-
gral to the operating room and supports the entire surgical team. The

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