Medical experts remotely operated hi-tech 3D cameras to carry out the procedure, which allows surgeons to operate on the human body through tiny incisions.

The clinical breakthrough was at the forefront of wider study into operator fatigue carried out by University academics and surgeons at the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

In addition to the 3D surgical evaluation, the project called on the expertise of Dr David Windridge, of Surrey’s Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing.

Dr Windridge used eye-tracking and computer-vision technology in the 3D environment to measure the changes in surgeons’ focus of attention during procedures.

He said: “By measuring attention while performing operations using state-of-the-art 3D surgical equipment, this collaboration gives us a unique opportunity both to improve surgical safety and also address far-reaching questions about how the human mind focuses attention while performing complex tasks.”