Overview
- Surgeons in Guangzhou remotely carried out an intraretinal injection on a patient in Urumqi roughly 4,000 kilometers away using a robotic arm.
- State reports say the operation took under seven minutes with a stable 5G link and no detectable tremor or delay in the robot’s responses.
- The team guided a microscopic needle to the retina, pierced to a preset depth, and delivered medication with claimed micrometric precision.
- Intraretinal injection is used to preserve vision in conditions such as submacular hemorrhage, highlighting potential clinical value beyond demonstrations.
- Project lead Lin Haotian described the case as a shift from feasibility to practicality, and coverage notes prior long-distance robotic surgeries, including a Rome-to-Beijing case over fiber and 5G.