Tibet, China - On August 29, Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd. (the “MicroPort^® MedBot^®”)，West China Hospital, Sichuan University (the “West China Hospital”) and the Tibet Autonomous Region People’s Hospital jointly launched the “Project of Sichuan-Tibet Connection - 5G Remote Surgery Experiment on Plateau”. The project utilized the technological advantages of Toumai^® robot in terms of low-latency master-slave control, high bandwidth network communication, and highly stable system architecture design to complete the world’s first 5G remote laparoscopic robot surgery experiment on plateau，making Toumai^® robot the world’s first laparoscopic surgical robot to perform 5G remote surgical exploration at the “Roof of the World” with an altitude over 3600 meters.

The successful completion of this ex-vivo organ experiment verifies that both software and hardware systems of Toumai^® robot are capable of withstanding extreme environmental challenges in high altitude regions, where it can maintain stable running and satisfy the requirements of stability, accuracy, and safety for the robot-assisted surgery. It fully demonstrates the cutting-edge strength of the domestic laparoscopic surgical robots in remote surgical technology and their vast application scenarios. This will open a new path for the improvement of medical service quality in remote areas, and effectively address the problems of “leaving Tibet for major diseases, long treatment cycles, and less assurance for recovery” faced by the residents on the plateau, allowing the Tibetan compatriots to enjoy more quality medical resources at home and receive timely medical treatment.

Professor Fengming Luo, Executive Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Professor Kunjie Wang, Vice Director of West China Hospital, and Mr. Jiantong Zhou, Senior Director of Sales Department of MicroPort^® MedBot^® got together to jointly kick off the “Project of Sichuan-Tibet Connection –5G Remote Surgery Experiment on Plateau”, while Department experts and medical staff attended and witnessed this historic moment.

Professor Fengming Luo spoke highly of the close cooperation among MicroPort^® MedBot^® and hospitals from Sichuan and Tibet for effectively completing various preparations and the technological assurance. He stated that, the jointly launched “Project of Sichuan-Tibet Connection - 5G Remote Surgery Experiment on Plateau” for 5G remote surgery exploration and research in harsh natural environments at high-altitude regions to verify the stability of the laparoscopic surgical robot carries with it higher practical significance, social value, academic value, and wide application value. This would allow medical staff to utilize remote surgery for life saving when facing possible natural disasters and emergencies, improving efficiency and benefiting the general public. In the future, we will attempt higher challenges to conduct 5G remote surgery experiments at altitudes of 4,000 meters or even 5,000 meters.

Mr. Yu Liu, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of MicroPort^® MedBot^®, stated that, Tibet Autonomous Region People’s Hospital is located in Lhasa City right at the middle of Tibet, where there is a special environment with high altitude, low air pressure, thin oxygen, and a large temperature difference between day and night. In this environment, surgical experts are prone to fatigue after prolonged, high-intensity surgeries. However, if the remote surgery could be performed through the “operating room in the air” built with 5G communication technology, giving experts “vision of thousand miles” and “hands of thousand miles”, it would not only solve the problem of experts adapting to the environment, but also guarantee safe, accurate and efficient operation. It builds a “bridge” for high-level experts to serve patients in remote areas, while it also provides protection for patients with more complex conditions on plateau to regain their health, achieving the goal of “information traveling more and doctors traveling less”, and improving medical quality and efficiency.

In this ex-vivo organ experiment, Hu Liao, Deputy Chief Physician of Thoracic Surgery Department at West China Hospital, Bei Li, Associate Professor of Biliary Surgery, and Liangren Liu, Associate Professor of Urology, used China’s self-developed laparoscopic robot surgical system - Toumai^® robot to conduct multi-departmental surgery experiments, including: enterectomy and entero-anastomosis, hepatectomy, partial nephrectomy.

During surgery, each chief surgeon operated the patient end surgical platform at Lhasa through the physician console at Chengdu to dissociate, cut and anastomose ex-vivo organs accurately and smoothly. Though the 2 places are 1200 km apart in the plateau environment, the Toumai^® robot technical team and the hospitals’ IT personnel maintained close cooperation with telecom operator, leveraging Toumai^® robot’s ultra-low latency remote precise control technology, high-fidelity 3D surgical field image transmission technology, safe surgery protocol of dual doctor console hot standby and fast switching, as well as the hardware system designed to cope with complex climates, to guarantee the almost synchronized surgical operations. There were clear visual fields throughout the entire surgery, with the 4 robotic arms moving swiftly without any signal lags.

Physicians participating in this experiment all said that, there were excellent real-time surgical operations, stable control, clear 3D images, and no lag in system operation, with almost no delay felt. The experience of the remote operations was not different from local surgery. They can see clearly and move accurately, which proves that Toumai^® robot is totally capable of assisting in complex surgery in high-altitude environments.

Moreover, Toumai^® robot assisted 5G remote surgery experiment will also facilitate the technological exchange between the hospitals in Sichuan and Tibet, laying a firm foundation for the development of medical education and scientific research. In the future, more physicians and scholars may share and exchange the latest knowledge and technology of minimally invasive surgery through remote teaching and coaching mode, thus promoting the medical advancement and innovation in these two regions.

PhD. Chao He, President of MicroPort^® MedBot^® said: In the future, MicroPort^® MedBot^® will continue to cooperate with elite hospitals and experts at home and abroad, keep improving and optimizing the functions and performance of the robot surgical system, actively orient the development of minimally invasive surgery towards smart, digitization and standardization, explore more 5G remote surgery application scenarios and patterns, and enhance the independent innovation and international competitiveness in the field of intelligent diagnosis and remote diagnosis and treatment. Meanwhile, MicroPort^® MedBot^® will be committed to replicating the successful experience of the top hospitals and experts to more grassroots hospitals, contributing to the popularization and development of telemedicine, providing patients with better treatment schemes, giving doctors better work experience, realizing better medical service for the society, so as to further upgrade the medical service level of regional medical centers at national level and achieve the target of “Make Surgery Easier, Safer and Less Invasive.”