West China Hospital reports seven remote robotic operations and local takeover safeguards
Patients in China, Poland and Brazil were treated through the remote system; the centre described joint-team requirements, emergency staffing and backup control.
Published by CareAtlas · Editorial policy
West China Hospital of Sichuan University reported seven remote robotic operations on March 20, 2026, involving patients in China, Poland and Brazil. Its international remote surgery control centre formally opened the following day.
Operations with patients remaining elsewhere
From Chengdu, Wu Hong’s team operated a robot 2,100 kilometres away at the hospital’s Tibet institution in Lhasa. The patient had a liver lesion suspected to be hydatid disease. The lesion was removed during a three-hour operation; recorded blood loss was 100 millilitres and anaesthesia remained stable.
The other procedures included urological operations for patients in Xiamen and outside central Chengdu. Doctors from Poland and Brazil used the centre’s systems for general, urological and cardiac surgery on patients in their own countries. The report describes the Brazil connection as more than 19,000 kilometres from Chengdu.
Joint teams and around-the-clock support
West China Hospital began routine remote robotic surgery in 2025, covering urology, general surgery and gastric cancer care. The alliance launched with the centre comprised ten hospitals in China and Poland.
The service has a dedicated support team of surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, network engineers and equipment engineers, with a 24-hour, seven-day emergency response arrangement.
Both the remote and patient-side clinical teams must complete structured training and assessment and hold the required robotic surgery qualifications. The hospital also requires the teams to have completed ten operations together in person, with total operating time exceeding 20 hours, and to maintain emergency procedures.
Local takeover and specialist input
The systems provide three-dimensional high-definition views, tenfold image magnification and tremor filtering. The two robot systems described have dual-surgeon backup. If network delay occurs, the operating-room team at the patient’s hospital can take over control immediately.
The centre can also bring multidisciplinary specialists into an operation remotely. They can view the surgical field and vital signs together and provide real-time management advice or assist with control.