On November 28, the world’s first remote single-Arm single-port robotic surgery was successfully accomplished by West China Second Hospital of Sichuan University (WCSUH) and Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital of China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. Prof. Zheng Ying, the director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at WCSUH, performed this hysterectomy with bilateral salpingectomy surgery in Sichuan on the patient in Lhasa using the Edge Medical's domestic single-arm single-port laparoscopic surgical robot through the Edge Medical Cloud Remote Surgery System.

According to the public information, this is the very first remote single-arm single-port robotic surgery in the world. It not only represents another significant breakthrough in the application of cutting-edge minimally invasive technology in China, but also serves as an important milestone of WCSUH’s medical support for Xizang Autonomous Region and the construction of regional medical centers in China. It provides a new opportunity for the development of women’s and children’s healthcare in Xizang Autonomous Region.

Single-port robotic technology demands extremally high performance of the equipment and sophisticated skill of the operator, especially for this remote surgery conducted over vast distance differences of nearly 2,000 kilometers and at high altitudes of 3,000 meters. To ensure the best prognosis, the surgery team had walked through every possible situation and solution before the surgery. With comprehensive evaluation, Prof. Zheng chose to perform a total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingectomy for the patient diagnosed as multiple uterine fibroids with secondary anemia, using the Edge Medical's single-arm single-port surgical robot. She remotely controlled the robot in Chengdu, used a tiny 2.5 cm incision at the patient’s umbilicus, performed the surgery on the patient in Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital of Xizang Autonomous Region. The work was accomplished in 90 minutes with the bidirectional network delay of only about 40 milliseconds. The close cooperation between the two medical teams and the surgeon’s excellent skills ensured the safety and reliability of this remote surgery.

The Edge Medical's single-arm single-port laparoscopic surgical robot used in this surgery is a high-end medical device entirely independently developed in China. It is also the only single-arm single-port surgical robot approved in China, with performance parameters that meet international leading standards. As the first single-arm single-port surgical robot to enter clinical registration trials in China, Prof. Zheng Ying's team had already used this device in March 2022 to complete the country's first hysterectomy without any auxiliary port and radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer. The successful implementation of this remote surgery undoubtedly provides a significant boost to cutting-edge minimally invasive technology, achieving a remarkable breakthrough.