Robot-supported transcatheter intervention will be the future cardiac care

https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0812/c90000-20487941.html

China has approximately 25 million people affected by valvular heart disease, and with an aging population, the demand for diagnosis and treatment continues to rise. Traditional interventional cardiac procedures have long relied heavily on the surgeon’s experience, while issues such as chronic radiation exposure for medical staff, limited operational precision, and uneven geographic distribution of top-tier expertise have persisted for years.

At Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, Professor Wang Yan has achieved multiple milestones using a robotic transcatheter cardiac intervention system co-developed with a Shanghai-based company. These breakthroughs include the first human clinical trial for robotic transcatheter mitral valve repair in 2023, a landmark transnational remote robotic mitral valve repair in 2025, and the clinical feasibility trial of robot-assisted transcatheter aortic valve replacement. All of these were made possible by the system’s stable, low-latency and visualized remote precision control.

On the technological front, the team has achieved several original breakthroughs with the system. It enables zero-radiation remote operation via a master-slave console, eliminating the chronic occupational exposure inherent in conventional cath-lab work. The team can perform submillimeter-level valve repair on a beating heart — a notoriously difficult procedure in complex cases — using a robotic arm that filters out physiological tremors. By equipping the system with tactile feedback and 5G-based low-latency transmission, the team has made cross-border, real-time interventions technically viable for the first time.

To mitigate risks associated with fatigue and human error, the system’s built-in safety mechanism automatically pauses instrument movement every 3 to 5 millimeters for surgeon confirmation. It also triggers an alarm or initiates a shutdown when operating beyond preset boundaries, keeping the error rate far below that of manual manipulation.

Despite these advances, the system remains a precision tool rather than an autonomous one. It cannot make independent decisions or respond to emergencies, and it still requires experienced surgeons to handle intraoperative changes or device anomalies. Other limiting factors are high costs, the need for longer-term clinical trials, and incomplete supporting frameworks, including network standards, cross-regional practice protocols and liability rules.

According to Wang, robot-assisted transcatheter intervention is a clear direction for future cardiac care. While the technology remains in clinical validation and refinement at leading cardiovascular centers in the short term. It is expected to enter routine use at major cardiac hospitals nationwide over the next three to five years, with intra-provincial and intra-city remote procedures gradually piloted.

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