Weightless surgery 'successful'

The French doctor said they had successfully performed the first surgery on the human arm in weightless conditions. The surgery ended at 7:30 (GMT).

Doctors removed the benign tumor in the voluntary patient's arm while the Airbus was specially designed to spin in a parabola shape to create a weightless environment.

Doctors are tied to a glass tent during surgery.
(Photo: CBSnews)

During this special operation, the plane had to fly 3 hours but the operation took less than 11 minutes, with 31 periods of zero gravity, each lasting 22 seconds.

"We try to complete the technique and not meet any special obstacles , " said Dr. Dominique Martin, chief of the surgery. "We only carry out simple surgeries but the surgery has shown that conducting surgery in zero gravity is not impossible."

Voluntary patients after surgery said: "I feel a bit tired but probably because of my head swirling".

From February to the time of this special operation, his team trained many times and studied the anatomy of a rat's tail in a vacuum.

The aircraft flipped in a parabolic shape to create periods of zero gravity - Photo : BBC

Dr. Martin also added that under these conditions, if there were two hours in a zero gravity state, he could perform an appendicectomy or any similar surgery.

After the success of this non-gravity surgery, the next phase of the study is to perform surgery with a controlled robotic arm from the ground via satellite. Martin said the experiment could take place next year.

T.LÊ