Professor Tao Lei's team performed the world's first remote non-invasive surgery on a patient with a glottic tumor in Kashgar, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, using China's AI-driven trans oral robotic system from Shanghai on February 28, 2025. (Photo/Courtesy of Wu Chunping)
A team from the EYE & ENT Hospital of Fudan University (FDEENT) in Shanghai recently achieved a milestone by successfully performing the world's first remote non-invasive surgery on a patient with a glottic tumor in Kashgar, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
This first-of-its-kind throat surgical robot could become the standard method for tumor removal in the throat, allowing patients to access top-tier medical expertise from other provinces through remote robotic surgeries, Wu Chunping, a member of the FDEENT team, director of the ENT Department at Kashgar Prefecture Second People's Hospital and member of Shanghai's Xinjiang medical aid team, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The achievement shows that China's technological advancements and infrastructure have reached the top-tier level. "It demonstrates our capacity to push the boundaries of medical technology and highlights China's growing role as a leader in cutting-edge healthcare solutions on the world stage," said Wu.
The surgery utilized China's artificial intelligence (AI)-driven trans oral surgical robot system, marking another breakthrough in the advancement of Chinese homegrown medical robots, according to a post on the official WeChat account of the Chengdu Hi-tech Zone Science and Technology Innovation Bureau.
The robot, developed by the Chinese medical company Borns based in the Chengdu High-tech Zone, leveraged advanced AI large model technology and achieved submillimeter-level instrument control, enabling remote surgeries that bypass spatial and network constraints.
"The entire surgical process went smoothly. Through seamless human-machine collaboration with the robotic system, it felt like I was performing the surgery locally, with no sense of distance or delay," Tao Lei, director of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and deputy director of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of FDEENT, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Tao noted that the primary challenge of the surgery was to make precise incisions while carefully avoiding critical structures. The robot performed with exceptional precision, successfully meeting the demands of this real-world test.
This achievement followed the robot's initial success in October 2024, when the team completed the world's first glottic tumor resection. Just four months later, the surgical team expanded the robot's capabilities by linking doctors in Shanghai, the surgical robots in Chengdu, and the patient in Kashgar 5,000 kilometers away, successfully conducting a remote operation.
The embodied intelligence algorithm ensures real-time 3D reconstruction and force feedback with hair-thin precision, and the domestic supply chain reduces equipment costs, cutting overall surgery costs to one-fifth, Li Yao, founder of Borns, was quoted by the post as saying.
"This specialized surgical robot for otolaryngology was jointly developed by a renowned medical institution and a leading medical robotics company," said Wu, stressing that no similar products are available worldwide.
The company has initiated clinical collaborations in countries including Germany, the U.S. and Japan, said Li, noting that 1,760 components of the robot are sourced from 165 companies across China.
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