A Lithuanian company, Sentante, has hit the international medical technology big time. With the robotic system they operated on a patient in Baltimore from London in the world’s first successful transatlantic stroke surgery. This innovative operation would unfold more than 4,000 miles away. It’s a bold step into the future of remote healthcare, and it is a first of its kind in neurosurgery.
Sentante also developed a next-generation robotics system that enables remote thrombectomy. Such innovation allows the neurosurgeons to undertake even life-saving operations from nearly any place, including their homes. Throughout this historic livestreamed event, Dr. Ricardo Hanel, a Florida-based neurosurgeon, commanded the Sentante machine. His work in conducting a thrombectomy in a human cadaver model in Dundee, Scotland. The patient was situated in an operating room while the surgeon utilized the robotic technology to remove a blood clot that had resulted from a stroke.
The surgery is an amazing illustration of what remote medicine can do, as it helps close the distance between patients and specialists. Prof Iris Grunwald, who performed the remote thrombectomy in Dundee, said she was hopeful about the potential of this technology.
Until now, this exciting technology only existed as a temporary or daunting solution. Now you can break free from the physical location constraints. It saves invaluable minutes that your minds would be wasting otherwise.
The Sentante robotic system instantly reproduces a surgeon’s exact average movements. This gives the surgeon the ability to execute complex procedures from a distance. This advance is especially important in acute stroke treatment, where time is often literally the difference between life and death. Prof. Grunwald declared the importance of early and efficacious intervention as crucial to the treatment of victims of strokes. Simply put, he explained, each additional six minutes of delay reduces the likelihood of a positive outcome by 1%.
Juliet Bouverie, Chief Executive of the Stroke Association, highlighted the broader implications of this technology for patients in underserved regions. She added, “For too long, individuals residing in remote and rural regions have been denied access to thrombectomy. The implementation of Sentante’s system would help open up access to otherwise life-saving treatments.
Sentante CEO, Edvardas Satkauskas, was proud that the company was a significant part of this revolutionary breakthrough. The successful surgery speaks to the transformational potential of Sentante’s pioneering technology. It flags an important and often overlooked partnership between healthcare providers and technology companies.
Prof. Grunwald’s work on this initiative has been amazing and recently won the attention of national guru. Her pioneering work led Innovate UK to invite her into the fold as their newest team member. As Vice President of the World Federation for Interventional Stroke Treatment, her expertise continues to shape how stroke care is delivered globally.
Performing this procedure on human cadavers demonstrates a high ethical responsibility in the pursuit of improving the science of medicine. We understand that patient safety comes first, always. The collaboration between Sentante and various medical institutions aims to refine this technology further and explore its applications in live patient scenarios.