Robotic Heart Surgery

ROBOTIC HEART SURGERY

Robotic heart surgery is a minimally invasive heart surgery performed through a small incision on the chest. With the help of tiny instruments and robotic devices, the surgeons are able to perform various types of heart surgery in a less invasive manner than compared to any other methods. Robotic surgery is used for various heart related procedures, including, valve surgery, coronary artery bypass, heart defect repair, tumor removal and cardiac tissue ablation.

Key Advantages of Robotic Heart Surgery:

One of the main advantages of this Robotic heart surgery is that, it is a minimally invasive procedure, compared to other options available. It requires only a small incision, which in fact will heal faster and help the patient to return to his daily regular activities soon.

Few other remarkable advantages of Robotic heart surgery, when compared to traditional approaches are:

• Precision and accuracy
• Shorter hospital stay
• Reduces the risk of infection
• Reduces the use of pain medications
• Controls blood loss
• Less pain for the patient

The surgeon has a better control over the surgical instruments and also gets a better view of the surgical point.

Potential Risks involved in this Procedure:

Regardless of types of surgery chosen, they certainly involve some risk in it. However, this risk will differ according to the patient’s current health condition, age, lifestyle and other medical conditions. The surgeon takes the responsibility to explain in detail about the risks involved clearly to the patient and family member, before proceeding with the surgery.

During the Procedure:

The following sequence takes place in a robotic cardiac surgery;

• Before the surgery begins the patient is placed under general anaesthesia and a breathing tube is inserted
• The surgeon makes a series of keyhole incisions on the side of the chest, which will align to the opening of the ribs
• The robotic arm with precision guided arms will be inserted into these incisions
• These robotic arms hold tiny instruments to perform required tasks on the heart or in the surrounding regions
• With the help of a tiny video camera that is inserted, the surgeon can firmly control the robotic arms through the special console and thus successfully completes the surgery

After the Procedure:

After the robotic surgery, the patient will be monitored by the surgeon and other health care specialists for a few days. The stay at the hospital is relatively shorter, compared to traditional surgical method. The patient is recommended to go for regular checkups after his/her discharge from the hospital.