In phase two of the experiment, Dr. Broderick will travel to the University of Washington and operate on the same simulated patient in Simi Valley from behind a surgical robot control console in Seattle.

Throughout the mission, the research team will evaluate the UAV's communications capabilities--including speed and quality of video streaming, information time lapses and suturing precision--to see how they are affected by an extreme environment.

"We need to find better ways of delivering emergency and specialized surgical care to patients when they are hundreds of miles away from the nearest hospital," explains Dr. Broderick. "When it's perfected, telesurgery could quickly become the medical norm for remote places, including battlefields, extremely rural towns--even space."

Founded in June 2003, the CSI is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the departments of surgery and biomedical engineering at UC and leading government and industry partners.

One of only a handful of centers of its kind across the nation and the only one in the Midwest, the CSI focuses on addressing unmet medical needs, such as developing minimally invasive robotic surgery and telesurgery techniques that will improve the way physicians deliver and teach medicine.

The 3,700-square-foot facility includes an eight-bench teaching lab with advanced audiovisual and telecommunications capabilities--such as international videoconferencing and direct linkages to the operating rooms at University Hospital, UC's primary teaching facility. The center also has a sterile operating room outfitted with specialized medical equipment, including the da Vinci surgical robot.

In March 2005, Dr. Br
'"/>

Contact: Amanda Harper
amanda.harper@uc.edu
513-558-4657
University of Cincinnati
5-Jun-2006