It is a world first. A robot was used to perform a particularly precise intervention inside an eye.
Robots, these tools that wish us good. While the use of these technological instruments becomes widespread in medicine, British surgeons have just announced that they have performed, with the help of a robot, the very first surgical operation inside an eye. The patient was successfully operated on and regained normal sight.
“New chapter”
This world first was conducted at the John Radcliffe Hospital (Oxford). “Current technologies, with lasers, scanners and microscopes, allow us to monitor retinal diseases on microscopic scales”, explains the medical team, quoted by the Guardian.
“But the things that we see with the robot go beyond the physiological limits of the human being and his manual capacity. With the robotic system, we are opening a new chapter in eye surgery, with interventions that we cannot perform alone, ”she continues.
Precision
The robot was used to remove a membrane about a hundredth of a millimeter thick that had formed on the patient’s retina, causing significant visual distortions. The objective was to dissociate this membrane from the retina without damaging the latter.
A particularly meticulous operation for a human hand. “Operating on the back of the eye requires great precision. The challenge was to have the robot perform the act, introduced through a very fine hole drilled in the inner wall of the eye – all without causing damage around, ”commented the practitioners.
Using a “joystick”, the surgeon steered this robot inside the patient’s eye, achieving an unparalleled level of precision. According to surgeons, the use of these surgical robots could become widespread in order to perform the most complex and precise acts.
Twelve patients will also be operated on according to this surgical procedure, as part of a trial.
.
