World’s First-In-Human Telerobotic Coronary Intervention Performed In India

India has achieved an important breakthrough in the history of medical science last week 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 by Corindus Vascular Robotics 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 in Gandhinagar at a distance of roughly 32 kilometer 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. The event and procedure was preceded by a small spiritual ceremony of Neelkanth Varni Abhishek and universal prayers for peace and progress.

On this occasion, Dr Tejas Patel said, “the first-in-human case of remote robotic PCI represents a landmark event for interventional medicine. Cardiovascular disease, including stroke, is 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.”

Telerobotic coronary interventional platform has the potential to dramatically improve patient access for both elective and emergent percutaneous coronary interventions and stroke in rural and underserved populations. It will reduce time to treatment for emergent procedures such as STEMI and stroke and will also reduce variability in operator skills and thus, improve clinical outcomes.

Mark Toland, president and chief executive officer of Corindus, said, “cardiovascular disease, including stroke, is the world’s most significant and undertreated clinical problem due to limited access to specialized, timely medical care. As a result of existing barriers to care, including increased global poverty and a declining number of trained specialists, only a fraction of patients worldwide receives life-saving treatment, resulting in substantial death or disability.”