U.K. Surgeons Perform Remote Stroke Surgery — Operated from Florida

Nov. 10, 2025 — Sentante, a med-tech robotics company, has successfully demonstrated a first-of-a-kind remote stroke procedure in Scotland — performed by specialist surgeons guiding the interventions from different hospitals in Florida in the U.S. and Dundee, Scotland. 

Full end-to-end thrombectomies were performed on perfused non-living subjects with procedure-authentic pathology in the Image Guided Therapy Research Facility (IGTRF) at the University of Dundee.

Its success proves the potential of Sentante’s technology to:

• Save the lives and prognoses of patients suffering stroke episodes in remote settings; at present, only 212 patients received a Thrombectomy across Scotland in 2024. Representing only 2.2% of the total number of people who had an ischemic stroke.
• Improve critical care and outcomes for stroke patients using robotic accuracy and precision;
• Create a fully digital process with rich data learning to inform the next generation of specialists and endovascular robotics

“For an ischaemic stroke, the difference between walking out of hospital and a lifetime of disability can be just two to three hours,” said Edvardas Satkauskas, co-founder and CEO of Sentante. “Today, patients are often transported long distances to reach one of a limited number of thrombectomy centers. With Sentante, the specialist comes to the patient over a secure network, and performs the entire procedure remotely—with the same tactile feel and control they have at the bedside.”

Two operators performed remote stroke interventions. Endovascular neurosurgeon Ricardo Hanel, MD, PhD, co-medical director of the Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center performed the transatlantic procedure, operating from Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville on a unique, perfused human cadaver model at Dundee University in Scotland. Professor Iris Grunwald, MD, PhD, interventional neuroradiologist, also performed a remote stroke thrombectomy in the same location from a remote hospital in Dundee.

“We were honored to be a test site for this groundbreaking use of remote robotic technology," said Michael A. Mayo, DHA, FACHE, president and CEO of Baptist Health. "Dr. Hanel and the team here at Baptist Health provide world-class neurosurgical interventions each day, and the potential for these life saving procedures to be delivered in a timely manner can bring new sources of hope and healing to a countless number of patients.”

The University of Dundee is the official global training center of the World Federation for Interventional Stroke Treatment (WIST), housing a unique surgical environment with human models for research and device testing under authentic conditions — before moving into patient trials.

The procedure also evaluated network performance and latency over the transatlantic link, with Sentante partnering with Mischa Dohler, VP of Emerging Technologies at Ericsson in establishing multi-path connectivity to maintain a stable, secure connection for mission-critical use. As part of the Nvidia Inception Program Sentante took advantage of state-of-the-art technologies purpose-built for developing healthcare robots, supporting low-latency robotic applications and future developments of autonomous robotic systems and Physical AI.

Sentante is a haptic endovascular robotic platform using standard catheterization laboratory (cath-lab) equipment — guidewires and catheters — connected to a device equipped with a high-resolution sensory system that captures the specialist's hand movements. These manipulations are replicated in real time by a robot at the patient's bedside, that could be miles away. Unlike joystick-controlled surgical robots, Sentante delivers authentic force feedback directly to the surgeon's fingertips — recreating the tactile experience of manual surgery.

Sentante’s teleoperated robotic system allows surgeons to perform life-saving interventions while seated at high-resolution screens displaying X-ray imagery. This frees them from radiation exposure and the physical strain of standing for prolonged periods. This seamless cath-lab integration is beneficial to both physicians and patients.

October’s demonstration follows prior remote work by the team at continental distances. Sentante has also completed a clinical trial in peripheral vascular interventions using the same core platform operated from a control room adjacent to the theater.

Sentante’s system is currently advancing through regulatory pathways for peripheral vascular interventions, to address the challenges of occupational hazards, growing workloads, staffing shortages and quality of care. It is planned to enter the market in 2026. Stroke thrombectomy is an extension of this and will proceed through a parallel regulatory pathway with the goal to improve patient access to timely stroke treatment.

The world-first remote stroke thrombectomy was made possible due to the University of Dundee’s unique position as a global leader in interventional stroke research and training. 

Its pioneering development of perfused human cadavers (Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification) — which replicate lifelike surgical conditions unlike anywhere else in the world — has enabled doctors from across the globe to train in Endovascular Stroke Treatment.

Professor Iris Grunwald said, “This is undoubtedly one of the most exciting innovations in stroke intervention in the last decade. What amazed me most was how tactile the experience was. My hands felt exactly as they usually would if I had been doing a conventional thrombectomy. Sentante is at the forefront of innovation, and has created a viable solution to a major global healthcare problem.”

Ricardo Hanel, MD, PhD, added: “Tele neurointervention will allow us to decrease the gap and further our reach to provide one of the most impactful procedures in humankind — the thrombectomy — to more people. To operate from the U.S. to Scotland with a 120 millisecond (blink of an eye) lag is truly remarkable.”