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A team of doctors in Montreal have become the world's first teleanaesthetists, treating a patient undergoing thyroid gland surgery in Pisa, Italy.

The group, led by Dr Thomas Hemmerling at McGill's Department of Anesthesia, collaborated with Dr. Zaouter of the Department of Anesthesia of Pisa University on the project. It saw medical engineers and anaesthesiologists in Pisa hooking the patient up to a series of tubes containing the appropriate drugs, which were then controlled remotely by the team in Montreal.

Four cameras monitored the various different aspects of the patient in Pisa, relaying variables like the patient's breathing rate, ECG, heart rate and oxygen saturation to Canada. A remote computer station was used by the team in Montreal to interact with a server in Pisa that transferred the signals into physical treatment. Local anaesthetists were on hand at all times, keeping an eye on the patient in case the link became severed.


Similarly, videoconferencing could also be used at a patient's home to prepare them for surgery before they visit the hospital, doing away with the need for a doctor to interview the patient in person before surgery, and reducing the time that they're occupying in-demand bed spaces.



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