A 3-D Telecast Surgery From Detroit To India

By Roland Piquepaille

Last Monday, about 1,500 doctors attending a medical congress in India were invited to a unique event. Wearing special 3-D glasses, they watched a live 3-D transmission of a surgery performed in a Henry Ford hospital in Detroit. In "Hospital uses cutting edge telemedicine," the Detroit News writes this is the first time a surgery is broadcast live over several continents. According to the hospital, such a 3-D telecast can help bring new surgical techniques to doctors across the globe who don't have access to them. In "Live 3D Surgery To Be Transmitted From Detroit To Mumbai, India," SpaceDaily adds that the operation was transmitted by fiber optic to Singapore, then by satellite to India. Read more...

Here is the introduction of the Detroit News article.

Donning 3-D glasses, doctors at a medical conference in India resembled an audience at an IMAX movie Monday as they watched the live broadcast of a Henry Ford Hospital doctor performing prostate surgery.

Dr. Mani Menon used a new, high-tech operating room to beam the two-hour surgery to 1,500 doctors at the World Congress on Endourology in Mumbai, India (WCE 2004). It marked the first time a surgery was broadcast live and in 3-D across the Atlantic Ocean.

Here are some other details provided by SpaceDaily.

The robotic prostatectomy operation will be transmitted from the hospital by fiber optic cable to Singapore, then via satellite to India, where the signal will be fed to a large screen at a medical convention.

The surgery will be viewed by 1,500 physicians wearing special 3-D glasses at the World Congress of Endourology being held in Mumbai.

Even if it's the same photo as in the Detroit News article, I couldn't resist to post it here (Credit: Henry Ford Health System). It shows you some of the doctors looking in 3-D at an operation done in real time thousands of kilometers away.

What is the purpose of such a broadcast? SpaceDaily answers.

The operation will be shown as a teaching tool for urologists. It will be the first time ever that an operation has been transmitted across the globe in 3-D. This required developing new transmission standards.

The robotic procedure is a computer-enhanced, minimally invasive surgery that provides many benefits over conventional surgery. Doctors use a robotic arm to perform surgery while looking at an image magnified 35 times.

You can find more information about the surgery itself by reading "Robotic Surgery For Prostate Cancer Continues To Advance."

On the Detroit side, the operation took place in a special room.

The Detroit News writes: "On Monday, Menon broadcast one of the surgeries from operating room No. 25, a technology-filled suite with a wall of three-dimensional screens. The room, which cost nearly $1 million and opened in May, is used most often to train medical students and residents."

And SpaceDaily adds: The special, one-of-a-kind operating room at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan was designed and built with 3-dimensional technology and is enhanced by two 60-inch by 80-inch flat projection screens, advanced lighting, and a data monitoring and intercom system.

More details about this operating room are available on this page.

Finally, I should point out that the Detroit News also writes about another experiment by the Henry Ford Hospital in which doctors interact with astronauts in space to monitor their medical conditions while in space.

Sources: Sheri Hall, The Detroit News, November 2, 2004; SpaceDaily, October 29, 2004; and various websites