Türkiye performs its first remote cancer surgery

Detailed summary

A surgeon in Istanbul used robotic technology to remove a kidney tumor from a 34-year-old patient 321 kilometers away in the western province of Balıkesir last week, in what he…

A surgeon in Istanbul used robotic technology to remove a kidney tumor from a 34-year-old patient 321 kilometers away in the western province of Balıkesir last week, in what he described as Türkiye’s first remote cancer operation.

Professor Bülent Önal, head of urology at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa’s Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, controlled robotic arms from an Istanbul console while the patient was at Balıkesir University Medical Faculty. The operation preserved the kidney and removed the entire tumor, making Türkiye the fifth country to perform remote cancer surgery.

Engineers repeatedly tested both hospitals’ network infrastructure and monitored data transmission for delays and fluctuations over 15 days before the operation proceeded, Önal said.

A technical team was on site. Professor Şakir Ongün, Associate Professor Çağdaş Şenel and their teams stood beside the patient, along with a surgeon from Önal’s team, ready to take over immediately if a technical problem occurred.

“What matters is not being the first to do something, but taking every precaution to ensure the patient receives the best healthcare,” Önal said.

He described the partial nephrectomy, surgery to remove part of a kidney, as a first within Türkiye’s Group A surgical procedures.

Önal said the method could bring expertise concentrated in big cities to patients elsewhere, reducing travel, accommodation costs and disruption to families’ work. Access to an Istanbul specialist without leaving home could improve equality in healthcare, he said.

It could also strengthen cooperation between surgical teams, allowing doctors in different cities to consult and support each other.

The distance nevertheless removed a personal connection Önal values: seeing patients before surgery, holding their hands, explaining the procedure and reassuring them. He normally speaks to relatives before and after an operation.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Hürriyet Daily News. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.