Surgeons from Scotland and US achieve world-first stroke surgery using robot

Doctors from Scotland and the US have completed what is thought to be a world-first stroke procedure using a robot. Prof Iris Grunwald, of the University of Dundee, performed the remote thrombectomy - the removal of blood clots after a stroke - on a human cadaver that had been donated to medical science. The professor was at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, while the body she was operating on while using the machine was across the city at the university. Hours later, Ricardo Hanel - a neurosurgeon in Florida - used the technology to carry out the first transatlantic surgery from his Jacksonville base on a human body in Dundee over 4,000 miles (6,400km) away. The team has called it a potential game changer if it becomes approved for use on patients.