Abstract A 69-year-old female underwent remote right upper lobectomy by a surgical team located 8000 km away to evaluate the feasibility and safety of real-time transcontinental uniportal robotic thoracic surgery using a 5G-enabled serpentine robotic system. The procedure utilized a single-port robotic platform connected via a dedicated 5G network. and completed in 58 minutes with network latency consistently below 150 milliseconds. No intraoperative complications occurred. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 3 without adverse events. This study demonstrates the technical feasibility and safety of transcontinental single-port robotic thoracic surgery under 150 milliseconds latency constraints, supporting its potential to expand global surgical access.
Gonzalez-Rivas et al. (2026) studied this question.