China conducts 5G remote micron eye surgery

BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- China has successfully carried out 5G remote micron eye surgery with the help of a surgical robot in the southern Hainan Province, according to China Science Daily on Wednesday.

The surgery took place on June 23 and was confirmed as safe and stable after a month of postoperative observation, said Lin Haotian, a professor with the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University.

Eye surgery requires a high degree of precision and stability from ophthalmologists. However, it is still challenging to perform a micron-level operation due to the physiological tremor and shaking of human hands.

The surgical robot can simulate and replace manual operations, getting rid of manual tremor and shaking, and achieve high-precision surgical operations despite time and space limitations thanks to 5G remote communication technology.

With the help of 5G communication and ultra-high-definition (UHD) micro-stereoscopic imaging technology, ophthalmologists can obtain low-delay UHD remote microsurgical images in real time, so as to make surgery more accurate, said Lin.

The micron eye surgical robot was jointly developed by institutions including the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and the School of Computer Science and Engineering of Sun Yat-sen University.

The success of this 5G remote micron eye surgery showed that remote medical services can be expected to promote the balanced and adequate development of ophthalmology across China and address the uneven distribution of high-quality medical resources.

The researchers pledged to introduce this surgical method in more applications across the country.