The patient was at a facility in Minneola, Florida, while the surgeon operated remotely from another facility

A Florida surgeon has performed the first telerobotic operation between two US hospitals, removing the prostate of a man with cancer from 35 miles away, according to officials.

Dr Vipul Patel, founder and medical director of the Global Robotics Institute at AdventHealth Celebration in suburban Orlando, on Sunday performed an investigational robotic prostatectomy on a 66-year-old prostate cancer patient who volunteered for a clinical study evaluating a robotic telesurgery system.

The patient, identified as Mark, was at an AdventHealth facility in Minneola, Florida, while Patel operated remotely from another AdventHealth facility in the community of Celebration. Study co-principal investigator and surgeon Marcio Moschovas provided onsite support to Mark during the procedure, an AdventHealth news release said.