(By Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Center)On March 12, 2019, a 5G new media center in Beijing's Xicheng District connected Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital and Shenzhen People's Hospital simultaneously, which are more than 2,200 kilometers away from each other. High-definition surgical images were transmitted through the 5G network, realizing a no-delay live broadcast in Beijing. Prof. Jiahong Dong, director of the Intelligent Medical Professional Committee of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and executive director of Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, conducted a preoperative program discussion with the surgeon and interspersed real-time remote technical guidance during the two off-site surgical procedures through mixed reality technology.

Jiahong Dong (second from left), Gang Zhao (fourth from left) and Qian Lu (first from left) in the live broadcast room

The Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery of Shenzhen People's Hospital recently took a case of complex liver tumor in the local city. Due to the critical condition and high difficulty of surgery, they asked the internationally renowned hepatobiliary surgeon Jiahong Dong for help in the formulation of surgical strategies and on-site guidance. In place of the previous mode of on-site guidance, doctors in Beijing and Shenzhen directly assessed the location, the anatomy of the lesion and intrahepatic blood vessels through the Mixed Reality Surgical Planning System. At the same time, they accurately designed the surgical approach, path and technical points. After thorough preoperative discussions, the two places shared real-time high-definition images during the operation through the 5G network with large bandwidth and low latency. Jiahong Dong diagnosed the surgical field, confirmed the target lesion, marked the surgical path, and realized the guidance to the hepatobiliary surgeon of Shenzhen People's Hospital through seamless online interaction.

Operating Room in Beijing and Shenzhen

"The advent of the 5G era has enabled doctors to carry out mobile multi-party remote pre-operative planning and surgical collaboration, breaking the limits of time, space and quantity, and greatly improving the efficiency of specialist resources," Jiahong Dong said. Shiyun Bao, director of the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery at Shenzhen People's Hospital jokingly said "Academician Dong, next time we encounter a problem, you won't have to fly to Shenzhen."

According to Dong, the future telemedicine system is expected to achieve intelligent upgrades with the advent of the 5G era. Faster, more accurate and more realistic reproduction of the anatomical structure of organs and lesions would provide a strong basis for accurate condition assessment and surgical plan design. Moreover, mixed reality surgical planning systems and off-site intraoperative guidance will also extend to all regions and all levels of medical institutions, to achieve seamless connectivity of physicians from different regions and real-time on-site collaboration.

This is the first 5G plus MR multicenter collaborative surgery model in the world. Beijing Unicom provides the 5G environment. The MR telemedicine system is a new project developed by the Institute of the Precision Medicine Institute of Tsinghua University and Beijing Jincheng Medical Science and Technology Co.(Reviewer Siyang Wang)