Case Study: Karolinska University Hospital advances global surgical education with Microsoft Azure and LiveArena

Robotic surgery goes live worldwide on Azure

Karolinska University Hospital, a leading medical institution in Sweden, sought a safer and more accessible method for its surgical training. The hospital wanted to move away from traditional live surgery events at conferences, which could pose patient safety risks and had accessibility limitations due to travel and space constraints. They partnered with Microsoft and its partner, LiveArena, to find a solution utilizing cloud technology.

Microsoft, through its Azure Media Services and LiveArena's broadcast platform, provided the infrastructure to create a virtual, global surgical conference. The solution enabled the hospital to stream live surgeries from 12 centers worldwide in a 24-hour event. This resulted in over 3,200 medical professionals from 85 countries registering to watch. The project fostered new international collaborations, improved engagement through integrated social tools like Skype and Yammer, and established a powerful, safe new model for surgical education.

Karolinska University Hospital

Justin Collins

Urologist and Researcher