Technology and medicine go together and it shows the first intervention of intercontinental keratoconus telesurgery performed remotely at the Ophthalmology Clinic of the Polyclinic of Bari. The intervention was made possible thanks to 5G technology by TIM which, in collaboration with Ericsson, allowed the installation of the suitable infrastructure at the Ophthalmology Clinic of the Polyclinic of Bari and made it possible to maintain an adequate transmission latency to guarantee perfect synchrony between remote commands and action. which made it possible to control the laser without being physically on site iRes2 designed and built by iVis Technologies.
In particular, an Ericsson 5G radio module for indoor coverage was used at the Bari Polyclinic, interconnected to the TIM Core Network through 10Gbps fiber optic access. Furthermore, in the days before the operation, using the platform 4D Suite, owned by iVis Technologies, it was possible to conduct all patient screening, up to and including the actual surgery. These resources have made it possible to decree the state of the pathology: the instrumentation has allowed the correct carrying out of all diagnostic tests by remotely showing very high resolution images.
The intervention took place during the WKC (World Keratoconus Congress), in the presence of over 200 international ophthalmic surgeons and experts in the field, gathered to discuss advanced technologies for the treatment of keratoconus and ectatic pathologies. Directly from Dubai, from the operating room of the Le Méridien Congesti Centre, the operation to which a patient suffering from advanced keratoconus was subjected took place. This evolutionary pathology causes a visual deficit that cannot be overcome with the use of glasses and which can lead to corneal transplant if it is not treated.
The entire operation was carried out by prof. Giovanni Alessio who used the iVis Remote Control Station to guide the iRes 2 laser installed in the Clinic in Bari in real time. These are his words after the intervention:
“The operation performed today, made possible by the technology developed by iVis Technologies, is the last and most complex operation of a series of three remotely controlled surgeries carried out to demonstrate that, thanks to remote control, it will no longer be necessary to patients face long journeys to receive the best possible care. We must continue to invest in the research and development of these innovative technologies, ensuring they are accessible to all who need them.”
