World's First Trans-Atlantic Surgery Accomplished Using RAD's ATM Device

Like Charles Lindbergh's solo trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris in 1927, another dramatic, technological breakthrough has linked New York and France, capturing people's imaginations and bringing the world a little closer together. In the first medical operation of its kind, dubbed Operation Lindbergh, doctors in New York performed successful gallbladder surgery – via remote-controlled robotics – on a patient located in Strasbourg, France.

In Operation Lindbergh, 7,000 kilometers (4,000 miles) separated the surgical team in New York City and the patient strapped to a hospital gurney in surgical ward A in Strasbourg Civil Hospital in eastern France. The doctor in New York moved the remote control on the console of Computer Motion's Zeus robotic surgical system, which combines robotics, a video display and unique computer software, to manipulate surgical instruments held by a robot in the operating room and perform the minimally invasive surgery. The patient was released from the hospital in 48 hours and resumed normal activity after one week.

The Zeus system relies on broadcast-quality video, IP telephony, videoconferencing and a LAN interconnection. "Previously, the impediment to performing trans-Atlantic operations was the time lag, which could be as long as one second. That is too long to safely perform a surgical operation," explains Jean-Pierre Temime, Director of Marketing for France Telecom Enterprise Services at France Telecom. Using ATM technology and RAD's ACE-2002 multiservice access concentrator and network termination unit (NTU) over a high speed fiber optic link, France Telecom was able to reduce the transmission delay to 150 milliseconds, a speed that is almost imperceptible to the human eye. This enabled the surgeon in New York to view his progress on a video screen in real time.

The sophisticated policing, monitoring and shaping capabilities of the ACE-2002 provide end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS), which is crucial for a life-and-death situation such as telesurgery. "This was a very challenging project, since we had to apply our expertise in high speed services within an extremely exacting environment in terms of the reliability and security needed. These are, in fact, the same services we deliver every day to equally demanding corporate customers," says Temime. France Telecom depends on RAD's ACE NTUs in its metropolitan InterLAN HD service and other ATM services.

"The success of this groundbreaking telesurgery lays the foundation for the globalization of surgical procedures," states Temime. "It makes it easier and less expensive for people in remote locations to benefit from the abilities of medical specialists from all over the world."