India creates history by performing world’s first-in-human telerobotic coronary intervention in Ahmedabad. Pioneer Health reports

The future of healthcare is changing dramatically with the advancement in medical technology and is empowered doctors to perform surgeries from far away. One such pathbreaking surgery was performed for the first time in the world where doctors sitting 32 km away did world’s First-in-Human Telerobotic Coronary Intervention.

With the help of CorPath technology of Corindus Vascular Robotics, Dr Tejas Patel, chairman and chief interventional cardiologist of the Apex Heart Institute at Ahmedabad. This is world’s first Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) procedure performed from Swaminarayan Akshardham temple, located at a distance of roughly 32 km from catherization lab of the Apex Heart Institute in Ahmedabad, where the patient was admitted and attended to by Dr Sanjay Shah.

The success of this study paves the way for large-scale, long-distance telerobotic platforms across the globe.

Talking about the surgery, Dr Patel, said: “The first-in-human case of remote robotic PCI represents a landmark event for interventional medicine. Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are the number one cause of death worldwide resulting in nearly 18 million deaths per year. The application of telerobotics in India has the potential to impact a significant number of lives by providing access to care that may not otherwise have been possible. I’m honoured for contributing to this historic groundbreaking research which is going to earn a lot of glory and global respect for my country.”

Telerobotic coronary interventional platform has the potential to dramatically improve patient access for both elective and emergent percutaneous coronary interventions and stroke in rural and underserved populations. It will reduce time to treatment for emergent procedures such as STEMI (ST elevation myocardial infarction) and stroke, and will also reduce variability in operator skills and thus, improve clinical outcomes.

Mark Toland, president and CEO of Corindus, stated: “Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are the world’s most significant and undertreated clinical problem due to limited access to specialised, timely medical care. As a result of existing barriers to care, including increased global poverty and a declining number of trained specialists, only a fraction of patients worldwide receives life-saving treatment, resulting in substantial death or disability. We anticipate that our technology will revolutionise cardiovascular disease treatment by providing specialised and timely medical care to anyone, anywhere.”

To improve patient outcomes, Corindus has pioneered the world’s first remote telerobotic interventional platform to deliver highly specialised and timely cardiovascular care to underserved patient.

Following the success of FIH telerobotic coronary stenting surgery, the company plans to initialise commercialisation planning for the system and expand its interventional platform to address stroke care.

Cardiovascular disease, including stroke, are the number one causes of death worldwide resulting in nearly 18 million deaths per year. Geographic barriers, socioeconomic status and a rapidly shrinking number of skilled specialists significantly hinders patient access to timely, specialised cardiovascular care.

This is especially of concern during highly emergent medical events, such as heart attack and stroke, where ideal treatment must be received in as little as 90 minutes or within 24 hours, respectively, to avoid death or permanent disability.