导读:全球首例采用机器人进入人眼内部进行膜切除的手术圆满成功。
Surgeons have used a robot to operate inside the eye and restore sight - in a world first.
外科医生使用机器人进行眼内手术操作并帮助病人恢复视力-这是世界首例。
A team at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital used the device, controlled via a joystick, to remove a membrane one hundredth of a millimetre thick.
来自牛津约翰拉德克里夫医院的一个研究小组使用仪器，通过操纵杆控制，移除了10微米厚的膜。
Patient Bill Beaver, 70, a curate in Oxford, said it was "a fairytale".
病人比尔比弗今年70岁，是牛津的助理牧师，他说这简直就是个“童话中才会有的事”。
Surgeons hope the procedure will pave the way for more complex eye surgery than is currently possible with the human hand.
外科医生希望，这次手术能够为更为复杂的眼科手术铺好路，超越目前仅能靠手工完成的水平。
The BBC had exclusive access to the procedure.
BBC为此过程做独家播放。
I can see’
“我重见光明了”
Rev Beaver said: "It’s almost the world of fairy tales but it’s true. I’m just fortunate that I’m the first to have it."
雷夫比弗说：“这几乎是童话世界，只不过一切都是真的。能够成为第一人我感到非常幸运。”
Robot assisted surgery is commonplace, but until now had never been used inside the eye.
机器人协助完成手术很常见，但这次以前，机器人从未在眼内进行过操作。
Prof Robert MacLaren from University of Oxford, who led the procedure, told me: "Operating at the back of the eye needs great precision, and the challenge has been to get a robot system to do that through a tiny hole in the wall of the eye without causing damage as it moves around.
牛津大学罗伯特麦克拉伦教授主导了这个项目，他告诉我们：“在眼球后部手术需要极高的精准度，最大的挑战就是让机器人系统通过眼球壁上一个极小的孔进行操作，而且眼球转来转去的同时还不能损伤眼睛。”
"Most robots in theatre are big, with big engineering whereas this is tiny - everything had to be shrunk down."
“电影里大部分机器人都是庞大的，带有硕大的机械系统，而这个是微小的-所有部件必须缩小。”
The Preceyes surgical robot was developed by a Dutch company, a spin-out of Eindhoven University of Technology.
这个Preceyes手术机器人由一家荷兰公司研发，它是埃因霍温理工大学的衍生公司。
The surgeon uses a joystick and touch-screen to guide a thin needle into the eye, while monitoring its progress through a microscope.
外科医生使用操纵杆和触摸屏幕来引导一根极细的针穿过眼睛，同时通过显微镜监控过程。
The robot, which acts like a mechanical hand, has seven motors and is able to filter out hand tremors from the surgeon.
机器人像机械手一样行动，它拥有七个发动机，不会像外科医生一样出现手抖的问题。
Large movements of the joystick result in tiny movements of the robot, and if the surgeon releases their grip any movement is frozen.
操纵杆的大幅运动会带动机器人的微小运动，如果外科医生不进行操作，所有动作都会停止。
The patient
病人
Rev Beaver was officiating chaplain to the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment until last year.
直到去年为止，雷夫比弗一直为皇家骑兵团担任牧师。
In July his optician spotted a membrane growing at the back of his right eye. The pressure had created a hole in his retina which was destroying his central vision.
七月份，验光师发现他右眼后部长出了一层膜。压力已经在他的视网膜上形成了一个孔，损坏了他的中央视觉。
Before his surgery said: "When I hold up a book, all I can see is mush in the centre, and my vision in that eye is restricted to the periphery."
手术前他说：“我举起书本时，看到的东西大多都在中间，而我右眼的视力已经受限制导致我看不到外围了。”
He underwent the pioneering surgical technique at the end of August.
八月底他接受了最先进的手术技术治疗。
Prof MacLaren said: "Normally when we do this operation by hand we touch the retina and there is some haemorrhage, but when we used the robot the membrane was lifted cleanly away."
麦克拉伦教授说：“通常当我们用人工操作时，在触碰到视网膜时会有些出血，但使用机器人可以将膜完全清除。”
The result is that Rev Beaver’s central vision in his right eye has been restored.
结果显示，雷夫比弗右眼中央视觉已经恢复。
A gas bubble in the eye means he is currently short sighted, but normal distance vision will return in the coming months.
眼内留有气泡意味着他目前存在近视，但几个月后他就能恢复正常视力。
Rev Beaver said: "The degeneration in my vision was very scary and I was fearful I would lose my sight entirely - so for this intervention to take place so effortlessly is a real godsend."
雷夫比弗说：“我的视力退化让我感到非常害怕，我很担心自己会失明-这次手术如此顺利真是上天给我的礼物。”
Twelve patients will undergo surgical procedures using the robot, in a trial funded by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.
十二名病人将会接受机器人手术治疗，试验资金由英国国家健康研究所牛津大学生物医学研究中心赞助。
Additional funding is being provided by Zizoz, a Dutch charity for patients with choroideremia, a genetic form of blindness which might be a future target for treatment using the robot.
其余资金由Zizoz提供，它是荷兰一家慈善机构，帮助无脉络膜的病人-这是一种先天性失明，将来可能是使用机器人治疗的目标病症。
Another level
另一个水平
The trial is designed as a proof of principle, to establish whether the robot can do what an eye surgeon does, but with greater accuracy.
这项试验室为了证明一个原则——确认机器人是否能够做到眼外科医生能做到的事，并且有着更高的精准度。
But the ultimate goal is for robotics to take eye surgery to another level.
但是，终极目标是让机器人学把眼科手术带向一个新的水平。
Prof MacLaren said: "There is no doubt in my mind that we have just witnessed a vision of eye surgery in the future.
麦克拉伦教授说：“我毫不怀疑我们刚刚见证了眼科手术的未来。”
"We can certainly improve on current operations, but I hope the robot will allow us to do new more complex and delicate operations that are impossible with the human hand."
“我们当然可以提高现在的手术，但我希望机器人能够使我们完成目前依靠人力无法完成的更多更新、更复杂和精细的手术。”
Oxford is among several centres around the world which are trialling retinal gene therapy - a new treatment to prevent blindness.
牛津是全球几个进行视网膜基因治疗试验的中心之一-它是种预防失明的新型疗法。
Currently this treatment is done by hand, and further interventions involving stem cell injections are planned which require cells to be slowly infused into the eye.
目前这种治疗均由手工完成，涉及干细胞注射的进一步治疗正在计划中，它需要细胞慢慢注入到眼内。
The robot should allow surgeons to inject cells under the retina over a period of 10 minutes, something which would be impossible with the human hand.
机器人应当允许外科医生在十分钟内将细胞注射到视网膜，而这靠人手是无法完成的。
The Dutch company which developed the robot believes that it could eventually be used outside the operating theatre.
研发这种机器人的荷兰公司相信它最终将会被用在手术治疗以外的领域。
Maarten Beelen from Preceyes said: "In the future we could see this being used in an office based setting, where only the robot would touch the eye and it would be fully automated, which would improve efficiency and reduce costs."
来自Preceyes的马尔滕贝朗说：“将来我们会看到它被应用于基于办公室的设置中，只有机器人能够触碰眼睛，而且应当是完全自动化的，这会提高效率，降低成本。”
The robot system is a prototype and as yet the company has not revealed what it will cost to purchase.
机器人系统仅是一个原型，目前该公司还未公布其售价。
