Surgeons perform zero-gravity operation on plane [+video]

Patient Philippe Sanchot (left) and plastic surgeon Dominique Martin of Bordeaux University with the Airbus 300 Zero G aircraft. Picture / Reuters

MERIGNAC - French surgeons performed the first zero-gravity operation this morning (NZ time) aboard a plane free-falling to create weightless conditions in what they hope can be a trial run for surgery on astronauts in space.

Dominique Martin, head of Bordeaux university hospital's plastic surgery unit, removed a fatty cyst from the forearm of volunteer patient Philippe Sanchot.

"It happened in accordance with our expectations. Today we performed a feasibility test. We weren't seeking to achieve a technical exploit," Martin told a news conference at an airport near the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

The operation lasted around 11 minutes and was performed in 32 sequences, during which an Airbus 300 Zero G aircraft flew in arcs putting it into free fall and creating weightless conditions for 22 seconds each time.

In a specially-developed operating theater, measuring two meters by two meters, surgical instruments were held in place by powerful magnets and the surgeons by harnesses.

"If we had had two hours of continuous weightlessness, we could have operated on an appendicitis," Martin said.

The facility, developed with the help of a leading elevator manufacturer, is intended to be installed in the International Space Station or in a future base on the moon, Martin told French daily Liberation.

"Today, if there's an absolute emergency up there, an intracranial haematoma for instance, we can't do anything," he said. "And sooner or later, we're going to face the problem."

Under normal ground conditions, today's operation would be a straightforward procedure performed under a local anesthetic. Without gravity, the surgeons' work is harder and the patient's body reacts differently.

"Cardiac output is reduced, which creates vascular stress. Blood doesn't pump in the same way. Above all it flows out of a wound in spheres, so we had to create a special vacuum aspirator to contain it," Martin told the newspaper.

Future operations in space could be performed using specially developed robots, controlled from the ground, backed up by human anesthetists on board.

"Today, a robot can't operate in weightless conditions. We're learning and then we'll program it to work in our place," Martin said.

- REUTERS