Doctor performs surgery on patient at hospital 35 miles away using robotics

A doctor in Florida performed a medical first on Sunday, using a robotic telesurgery system to perform a surgery at a hospital located 35 miles away.

Dr. Vipul Patel, founder and medical director of the Global Robotics Institute at AdventHealth Celebration in Celebration, Florida, near Orlando, used the robotic system to perform surgery on a 66-year-old man with prostate cancer.

While the patient was in an operating room at an AdventHealth hospital in Minneola, Florida, Patel was controlling surgical instruments remotely at AdventHealth Celebration, located 35 miles away, to successfully remove the patient's prostate.

A qualified surgeon was also in the room with the patient at AdventHealth Minneola during the surgery, according to AdventHealth.

The patient continues to do well post-surgery, the hospital told ABC News.

The surgery -- the first of its kind performed between two hospitals in the United States -- is part of a Food and Drug Administration-authorized clinical research study to examine whether this type of robotic surgery could be implemented more broadly.

If so, Patel said it has the potential to transform the medical care patients can access, no matter where they live.

"For generations, access to highly specialized care has often depended on where a patient lives," Patel said in a statement shared by AdventHealth "This study allows us to evaluate whether telesurgery could one day help reduce geographic barriers to specialized treatment. Important questions about safety, effectiveness and technical performance remain under investigation."

As part of the study, nearly one dozen telesurgery procedures were previously done between hospitals in Orlando and Luanda, Angola, located more than 7,000 miles apart.