Live surgery and teleconferencing at the 19th World Congress of the International Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists (IASGO) in Beijing.

Advanced technologies were introduced for the first time at the 19th World Congress of the Inter-national Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and-Oncologists (IASGO) in Beijing, China. Live surgery and multi-station teleconferencing were performed using the super high-speed inter-net to transmit and preserve the high quality life- like images of surgical operations. This is the first time in the history of IASGO that use has been made of this worldwide academic network and user friendly digital video transport system, which has many advantages over traditional telemedicine systems. Here we briefly report these epoch-making sessions and their future expectations