| Share

AARNet advances live surgery for Australia with Asia-Pacific medical demonstration

Audiences to experience step-by-step guide to new techniques via video conference

Sydney, AUSTRALIA – 24 September 2009 – AARNet (Australia’s Academic and Research Network) will stream high-definition video footage of two laparoscopic distal gastrectomy surgeries being performed live by a team of doctors in Japan and Korea to medical practitioners across Asia Pacific. The procedure, which is designed to treat chronic gastric ulcers and stomach cancer, will be streamed live to Japan, Korea, China and Australia on September 25.

Designed to educate students, doctors and professors throughout the region, the event will highlight the latest techniques through a live, guided step-by-step demonstration. Audiences will have the opportunity to view the operations in real time and ask questions to the medical teams involved via videoconference.

The surgery will be performed on patients at two separate locations - Kyushu University Hospital in Japan and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Korea.

Attending the videoconference in Australia will be a group of medical representatives from Royal North Shore Hospital.

According to Shuji Shimizu, MD, chairman of APAN Medical Working Group, "The live demonstration has opened a new era for the medical community throughout Asia Pacific. The support from AARNet enables medical professionals to share their skills with a wide audience, ultimately providing patients with prompt and better healthcare."

Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet, said, “Part of AARNet’s role as an enabler to the Australian science and research communities is to ensure our local educators and practitioners have contact with the best in their field, no matter where they are in the world. This type of demonstration is vital progress in the use of high-capacity broadband links to drive leading edge initiatives in the e-health arena.”

The operations will be demonstrated in their entirety and are expected to take approximately three hours to complete.

- ENDS -

About AARNet

AARNet Pty Ltd (APL) is the company that operates Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet). It is a not-for-profit company limited by shares. The shareholders are 37 Australian universities and the CSIRO. AARNet provides high-capacity leading edge Internet services for the tertiary education and research sector communities and their research partners. AARNet serves more than one million end users who access the network through local area networks at member institutions. For further information, please visit: www.aarnet.edu.au.

For further information, please contact:

Almira Anthony
Max Australia
(02) 9954 3492
almira.anthony@maxaustralia.com.au

bookmark

PDF version