Several robotic surgical systems have been developed for MIS (minimally invasive surgery) including commercialized products such as da Vinci and ZEUS. We have developed a minimally invasive surgical system, which have carried out remote surgery experiments for five times at the writing time. In this paper, a remote surgery experiment, which was conducted between Japan and Korea by using the developed minimally invasive surgical system is described. Research & Development (R & D) Internet testbet, APII (Asia-Pacific Information Infrastructure), which consists of an optical submarine cable network KJCN (Korea-Japan Cable Network), was used. In the experiment, a laparoscopic cholecystectomy was successfully carried out on a pig. The network time-delays of control signal and images were 6.5 msec and 435.5 msec respectively. A comparison of remote surgery experiments using ISDN and the Internet was studied

We have established a medical network in Asia-Pacific area with high-quality moving image on a super broad-banded Internet line since February 2003. Broadcasting real-time surgery and teleconference with medical-quality videos with digital video transport system (DVTS) were so useful to learn surgical techniques and other medical procedures beyond borders. We have conducted 20 events in categories of teleconference (8 times), live transmission of medical procedure (6 times), and remote attendance to scientific medical meetings (6 times) until September 2004. We had teleconferences among 3 countries in APAN-Hawaii in January 2004 (Japan, Korea and USA), and in APAN-Cairns in July 2004 (Japan, Korea and Australia). There have been no serious transmission/ethical problems so far. With these experiences and current achievements, we hope to extend this advanced network system to whole Asia-Pacific countries to share medical skills and knowledge.