Zurich researchers operate on pig 9300 kilometers away

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26. August 2024 – 13:07

(Keystone-SDA) Swiss researchers have operated on a pig in Hong Kong from their laboratory in Zurich. It is the first time that a specially developed magnetic gastric tube has been remotely inserted into a living animal, ETH Zurich announced on Monday.

The researchers hope that this will lead to better surgical care in remote areas where there is a lack of specialist knowledge. The procedure was carried out in May as part of a joint study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The researchers reported on their experiment in the journal “Advanced Intelligent Systems”. According to the university, ETH doctoral student Alexandre Mesot controlled the gastric tube using the joystick of a Playstation controller. On a screen, he saw the tube moving through the stomach of the anesthetized pig, which was lying in an operating room around 9,300 kilometers away.

Magnetic gastric tube

In addition to a good internet connection, this was made possible by a gastric tube developed at ETH Zurich. The head of the endoscope, as gastric tubes are called in technical terms, consists of a magnet. It is controlled by a magnetic field.

It is smaller than conventional endoscopes, the university said. This means it can be inserted through the nose instead of through the mouth as is currently the case. This is less stressful, and patients do not need to be put under general anesthesia.

The device has not yet been tested on humans. However, the researchers have high hopes for their gastric tube. “There is a lot of potential in this technology. I am thinking of minimally invasive interventions in the gastrointestinal tract, such as cancer screenings,” Professor Bradley Nelson, who is responsible for the trial, was quoted as saying in the press release.