The patient is in Bari, the surgeon who operates on his eyes is in Dubai: the operation is a success

The surgeon is in Dubai, the patient to be operated on is in Bari. And the innovative operation was a perfect success. The first of Remotely controlled intercontinental keratoconus telesurgery surgeryconnecting the iRes®2 laser from iVis Technologies in 5G, installed in the operating room of the eye clinic of the Apulian hospital where the patient was located, with the control station located in Dubai and guided in real time by the Professor Giovanni Alessiodirector of the operational unit of the University Hospital of Bari.

As communicated by the Polyclinic of Bari itself, the operation took place during the Wkc world congress (World Keratoconus Congress): there were over 200 international ophthalmic surgeons and experts in the fieldgathered in Dubai to discuss advanced technologies for the treatment of keratoconus and ectatic pathologies.

The patient operated on in Bari was suffering from advanced keratoconus, an evolutionary pathology which causes a visual deficit that cannot be corrected with glasses and which, if left untreated, can lead to corneal transplant.

According to what was announced by the hospital, before the operation the patient underwent a series of diagnostic tests which made it possible to determine stage and extent of the disease and plan treatment accordingly. During the operation, the patient was assisted in the operating room in Bari by a dedicated team. “The remote connection was made possible – we read in a note – thanks to TIM’s 5G technology which, in collaboration with Ericsson, installed the infrastructure at the ophthalmology clinic of the Bari Polyclinic which made it possible to maintain a transmission latency between the control station and the laser to ensure perfect synchrony between remote commands and action”.