Dr. Tejas Patel performs world's first human telerobotic coronary intervention in Gujarat

Gandhinagar: Ahmedabad based Dr. Tejas Patel today completed world's first human telerobotic coronary intervention successfully. Dr. Patel was at Akshardham in Gandhinagar. The patient, a middle-aged woman from North Gujarat was on the operation table at cath lab of Dr. Patel's Apex Heart Institute in Ahmedabad. Critical coronary intervention was done via telerobotic by Dr. Patel, sitting 32 km away from patient thanks to 100 MBPS jio bandwidth connectivity and telerobotic facility in place.
With this, India has achieved an important breakthrough in the history of medical science with the World’s First-in-Human Telerobotic Coronary Intervention by Dr. Tejas Patel, Chairman and Chief Interventional Cardiologist of the Apex Heart Institute at Ahmedabad. He used CorPath® technology of Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc. [NYSE American: CVRS], to conduct the first-in-human (FIH) telerobotic coronary intervention. This is the world’s First Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) conducted from a remote location outside of the catherization lab.
The PCI procedure was performed by Dr. Tejas Patel 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. Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijaybhai Rupani along with saints of Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Pujya Shri Brahmavihari Swami and Pujya Shri Ishwarcharan Swami remained present on this occasion.
On this occasion, Dr. Tejas Patel, Chairman and Chief Interventional Cardiologist of the Apex Heart Institute, 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 am honoured for contributing to this historic groundbreaking research which is going to earn a lot of glory and global respect for my country.”
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, specialized 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.
On this occasion, Dr. Tejas Patel thanked Parimal Nathwani and Dhanraj Nathwani for creating 100 MBPS seamless connectivity to make this achievement possible. Dr. Tejas Patel said, 'for such operation minimum 20 MBPS connectivity is essential. With introduction of 5G, telerobotic surgery will get momentum in India.'
It's worth mentioning that a patient at Apex hospital's cathlab was kept under constant supervision of specialist team of Dr. Sanjay Shah and Dr. Mehul Shah, so that in case of bandwidth loss they could manually intervene.
Dr. Patel and team has so far done 300 operations through robotics. He trains doctors for robotic intervention through his TRICO programme every year.
DeshGujarat