Doctors from the Scottish region and the United States have successfully completed what is believed to be a world-first stroke surgery using a robot.
The lead surgeon, working at a Scottish university, performed the distant clot removal - the elimination of vascular blockages post a cerebral event - on a donated body that had been donated to medical science.
The professor was located at a medical facility in Dundee, while the specimen being treated while using the system was separately situated at the university.
Subsequently, a medical specialist from Florida utilized the technology to carry out the first transatlantic surgery from his Florida location on a medical specimen in the Scottish city over 4,000 miles away.
The team has labeled it a potential "revolutionary development" if it receives authorization for medical treatment.
The doctors think this innovation could change stroke care, as a delay in accessing expert care can have a direct impact on the recovery prospects.
"The experience was we were observing the first glimpse of the next generation," said the medical expert.
"While in the past this was regarded as theoretical concept, we demonstrated that each phase of the surgery can now be performed."
The Scottish institution is the worldwide teaching facility of the international stroke organization, and is the sole location in the UK where medical professionals can work with medical specimens with biological fluid pumped through the arteries to replicate operations on a actual patient.
"This marked the initial occasion that we could conduct the whole mechanical thrombectomy procedure in a real human body to demonstrate that all steps of the operation are feasible," explained the lead expert.
A charity executive, the head of a health foundation, described the long-distance operation as "an extraordinary advancement".
"Over extended periods, residents of remote and rural areas have been denied availability to thrombectomy," she continued.
"Robotics like this could rebalance the inequity which persists in stroke treatment throughout Britain."
An brain attack occurs when an artery is blocked by a clot.
This cuts off blood and oxygen supply to the cerebral tissue, and neurons cease working and die.
The optimal therapy is a thrombectomy, where a expert uses medical instruments to extract the blockage.
But what transpires when a person is unable to reach a professional who can conduct the operation?
The medical expert explained the trial proved a robot could be attached to the same catheters and wires a surgeon would typically employ, and a medic who is attending the case could simply attach the tools.
The specialist, in a separate site, could then hold and move their personal instruments, and the mechanical device then executes precisely identical actions in immediate sequence on the subject to carry out the thrombectomy.
The subject would be in a treatment center, while the specialist could conduct the procedure via the technological system from anywhere - even their own home.
The lead researcher and the neurosurgeon could observe real-time imaging of the body in the studies, and observe results in immediate feedback, with the lead researcher saying it took merely twenty minutes of training.
Major corporations prominent manufacturers were involved in the project to guarantee the communication link of the automated system.
"To operate from the US to Britain with a minimal delay - a moment - is truly remarkable," said Dr Hanel.
Prof Grunwald, who has been honored for her research and is also the executive member of the World Federation for Interventional Stroke Treatment, explained there were two main problems with a traditional procedure - a worldwide deficiency of doctors who can perform it, and intervention relies upon your geographical position.
In Scotland, there are merely three sites patients can obtain the treatment - Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh. If you aren't located nearby, you must commute.
"The treatment is very time sensitive," said the medical expert.
"For every six minutes of waiting, you have a 1% less chance of having a good outcome.
"This innovation would now provide a innovative method where you're not depending on where you dwell - saving the precious time where your brain is deteriorating."
Medical statistics showed there were {9,625 ischaemic strokes|numerous cerebral events|
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