Safety issues in telesurgery-summary

Telemedicine involves the application of high technology to medicine with a particular focus on the exploitation of modern communication technologies. Although the great interest in the field is relatively recent, a much earlier example can be traced to the psychiatrist Cecil Wittson in 1959, with his work in of telediagnosis, where he conducted consultations via interactive television. More recently the United States and the European Community have formed initiatives to provide funding for the conception and implementation of specific telemedicine systems: for linking urban specialists to rural generalists who lack training in speciality areas such as paediatric radiology; medical war operations; and to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The dependability of such systems is of critical interest to clinicians, manufacturers, and more importantly patients. The focus of this paper concerns the issues of safety in systems used in telesurgery