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At the end of September, Dr. Jaffar Khan, MD, an interventional cardiologist from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in Washington DC, USA, was virtually ‘scrubbed-in’ to collaborate with London cardiologist, Dr Michael Mullen, at Barts Health NHS Trust, during a transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR), using the pioneering LAMPOON method.
The critical intervention, which happened in real-time and from 3,733 miles away, helped to save the patient’s life. The procedure took place under strict COVID-19 conditions, and the cardiological collaboration was made possible by the use of Proximie.
Dr Mullen, speaking about the landmark cardiology case, said: “I am pleased to say the patient was discharged today. The procedure was successful in no small part down to the effective way in which Proximie facilitated Dr Khan’s collaboration. This is a great example of how we can continue to undertake procedures in the post-COVID world.”
Dr. Khan says: “Proximie worked pretty seamlessly as a teleproctoring platform and I was able to successfully assist the physicians across the Atlantic in a very complex procedure”
Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram, CEO and Founder of Proximie, FRCS (Plast), BEM, said: “This is a landmark operation. A cardiology case of this nature would not have taken place during COVID-19 were it not for Proximie, due to travel restrictions and access to cath labs being kept to a bare minimum. The incredible collaboration between Dr. Khan and Dr. Mullen, who were continents apart, would not have been possible during these unprecedented times.
“Our technology has played a crucial role in enabling two expert cardiologists to work together in real-time in order to save a life.”
“At a time when surgeries all over the world are being postponed, or in some cases cancelled altogether, this procedure can hopefully serve as an example to the medical community that there is another way. We can safely transport expert clinicians into any clinical setting, to enable them to share their expertise that can help to save lives.”
Dr. Nadine continued: “With the fight against COVID-19 continuing, technology is proving it can play a fundamental role in supporting clinicians all over the world. It’s important that the whole clinical community comes together to collaborate, share best practice and ultimately reduce variation in care.”
Proximie is a plug-and-play, hardware-agnostic, remote collaboration platform that uses a low-latency video stream to empower clinicians to virtually share their skills using a unique combination of augmented reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
This technology has been changing the way surgery is practiced in hospitals, universities and medical device companies around the world. Proximie recently concluded its 6,000th procedure and is being used in 35 countries around the world. The platform is currently averaging over 700 Proximie assisted procedures a month, and it is currently being used in over 20% of all NHS Hospitals in the UK. Proximie is also being harnessed by the UK Ministry of Defence to provide clinical support to frontline service personnel.
