Definition of Telesurgery

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Telesurgery: Surgical procedures carried out at a distance thanks to advances in robotic and computer technology and their applications to surgery.

The first demonstration of trans-Atlantic telesurgery was reported in 2001 when surgeons in New York operated on a 68-year-old woman in Strasbourg, France and used remote-controlled robots to resect (took out) her gall bladder by laparoscopy.

Remote telesurgery transcends all of the geographical constraints on specialized surgery. A person at the South Pole needing surgery can have it there by remote telesurgery ("polar telesurgery"). An astronaut can be operated upon in a space station ("astrosurgery"). And people in developing nations will be able to benefit from specialized surgery and not leave home for it.