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ROBOT-ASSISTED CARDIAC surgery is heart surgery done through very small incisions in the chest. The surgeons use tiny instruments and robot-controlled tools to do heart surgery in a way that is much less invasive than open-heart surgery. This surgery is often called robotic cardiac surgery.
Robot-assisted surgeries have been used for many different heart-related procedures. These include valve surgery, coronary artery bypass, cardiac tissue ablation, heart defect repair, and tumour removal.
The main benefit of robot-assisted cardiac surgery is that it is less invasive compared with open-heart surgery. Smaller incisions can mean that you can spend less time in the hospital, heal faster, and return to activities more quickly.
Dr Makoto Hashimoto, director of robotic cardiac surgery at Baptist Health Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute, said robotic surgery allows them to treat serious heart conditions with minimal trauma to the body.
“Instead of the large incisions and chest opening required in traditional heart surgery, we use robotic technology to perform complex procedures through small, precise incisions between the ribs,” Dr Hashimoto said.
“The surgeon’s hand movements are seamlessly translated into precise, real-time movement of instruments. We have a degree of motion that is better than the human hand, a magnified field of vision, and the ability to use many instruments simultaneously,” he added.
The difference, he said, is remarkable. “Patients often go home within days and are back to normal activities within one or two weeks. It is still heart surgery, but the experience is completely different,” Dr Hashimoto said.
One of the main benefits of robot-assisted cardiac surgery is that it has fewer risks than open-heart surgery. The surgeon does not have to cut through the breastbone to open your chest. This removes many of the complications of open-heart surgery.
Robot-assisted cardiac surgery still requires anaesthesia. As with any kind of surgery, there are always risks, including heart attack, stroke, bleeding, problems linked to using anaesthesia, arrhythmias, including a need for a permanent pacemaker, infection and death.
Robotic surgery is particularly effective for conditions like mitral valve disease and coronary artery disease that previously required opening the chest and spreading the ribs.
“Because robotic heart surgery is performed through several tiny incisions, patients experience shorter hospital stays, lower risk of infection, reduced blood loss during surgery, less pain and need for pain medications, more minor and less visible scars, and a faster return to regular activities,” Dr Hashimoto said.
“Our typical postoperative stay has been reduced to just two days for most patients, with a mean return-to-work of two weeks and 45 per cent of patients returning to work after just one week,” he added.
While robotic technology, he said, handles the instruments, a highly trained heart surgeon always leads the surgery. “The robot enhances human skill; it does not replace it. The technology gives us unprecedented precision and control, but human expertise and decision-making remain at the centre of every procedure,” Dr Hashimoto said.
As technology improves, even more cardiac procedures will be able to safely be performed robotically, he said. “In the future, we will be looking at telesurgery, where the patient and the surgeon are not even in the same facility. This will be a game-changer for those in rural areas or in countries that do not have the ability to provide cardiac surgery. We are entering an era of innovation that combines the best of precision medicine and patient comfort,” he added.
Baptist Health South Florida is an academic and clinical affiliate of Florida International University. A not-for-profit organisation supported by philanthropy and committed to its charitable mission of medical excellence.
Dr Hashimoto said heart surgery has advanced significantly in recent years, and what was once associated with large incisions, long hospital stays, and weeks of recovery now offers a safer, faster path to healing.
“At Baptist Health Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute, we are able to provide world-class cardiac care with minimal trauma to the body, and patients are often amazed at how quickly they can return to their normal lives. The future of heart surgery is here, and it is more patient-friendly than ever before,” he said.
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