Surgeons wielding a computer mouse instead of a scalpel say they've performed the world's first remote-controlled brain surgery.

A team of doctors from the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax helped to remove a tumour from the brain of a patient hundreds of miles away in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Telesurgery itself is not new. Doctors in London, Ont., have used it to perform heart surgery on patients as far away as Norway. Now doctors have adapted the technology to advise brain surgeons in another city in real-time.

A robotic arm with an endoscope, or camera, attached to it allowed Dr. Ivar Mendez to feel like he was performing the surgery on a patient right in front of him.

"We can actually manipulate the robot to go where the surgeon is actually operating," said Mendez. "We can go around the operating field by controlling the robotic arm from Halifax."

Neurosurgeons in Halifax used monitors to assess the patient's condition and then drew incision lines on an electronic monitor.

In Saint John, operating surgeons followed the instructions and removed the tumour.

Mendez said robotic telemonitoring could help bring neurosurgery expertise to smaller communities.

Doctors said the patient is in stable condition. Within a year, the investigators hope to use the robotic arm to make actual incisions and perform the entire surgery from afar.