What You Need to Know About Robotic Heart Surgery

A lot of our heart health comes down to genetics. That is, if your ancestors have suffered from heart disease or have had issues relating to their heart, chances are, you might too. Fair? Not at all but it’s the truth, and if you’ve got heart disease in your family, it’s imperative that you get checked out sooner rather than later, just to get a lay of the land and make sure you’re doing everything right to keep your heart in tip-top shape.

Have you been experiencing heart problems as of late? Perhaps you’ve suffered a heart attack and your doctor has recommended surgery. Perhaps a good friend’s recent heart attack had you rushing to the doctor to make sure you were taking the correct dosage of vitamins and baby aspirin to ensure the highest level of heart health. Our heart is our most important organ, and so it’s imperative that we take care of it but some of what our heart does and how it acts isn’t due to any sort of lifestyle changes or choices we make. A lot of our heart health comes down to genetics. That is, if your ancestors have suffered from heart disease or have had issues relating to their heart, chances are, you might too. Fair? Not at all but it’s the truth, and if you’ve got heart disease in your family, it’s imperative that you get checked out sooner rather than later, just to get a lay of the land and make sure you’re doing everything right to keep your heart in tip-top shape.

Should your doctor tell you that you need heart surgery to fix a health problem, he or she may advise the use of robots to operate. That’s right, robots. What is this, back to the future? Not exactly, but these days, robotic-assisted procedures are quite common, and happily, quite safe. Robotic-assisted minimally invasive heart procedures help you to avoid the drawback of traditional heart surgery, including blood loss, pain and scarring, all of which typically result from the surgeon cutting through the breastbone and opening the ribs in order to get access to the heart itself.

Robotic-assisted systems are effectively changing the way surgeons operate today literally. Data on the systems suggests that the recovery time, pain and trauma are significantly reduced when robotic-assisted procedures are adopted, when compared to traditional surgical procedures. Though it sounds scary and futuristic, robotic heart surgery is quite safe and may even reduce the amount of side effects you experience following your surgical procedure. Not performed by actual robots (as one could easily think!), robotic surgical procedures are also commonly known as computer-assisted surgery, and they exist to help enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open heart surgical procedures.

How does it work? Thanks to the precision of robotic systems, breakthroughs are being made as the technology enables surgeons to operate through smaller than usual incisions that are made between the ribs. In the case of most patients, minimally invasive heart surgery procedures that are performed with the assistance of robotic tools offer numerous benefits when compared with traditional open heart surgery, including shorter hospital stays, less pain and scarring following the surgery, a lower risk of infection, less blood loss and fewer transfusions. Patients who opt for this method also experience faster recovery times, and hence, can return to their normal activities much more quickly than they would be able to do if they had undergone a traditional open-heart surgical procedure.

Generally, in the case of robotic heart surgery, surgeons will manipulate the instruments via computer instead of directly moving them on their own. Chances are, your doctor will use either a telemanipulator, which is a remote manipulator that allows the surgeon to perform the normal movements necessary for the surgery while robotic arms carry out the actual movements. In this case, it’s the robotic arms that actually perform the surgery on the patient, leaving less of a margin for error and making for a more careful procedure.

Surgeons can also perform the surgery using a computerized method; in this method, the surgeon simply controls the computer, which controls the robotic arms performing the surgery. Ready for a futuristic freefall? In this sort of surgery, the surgeon can actually control the computer from anywhere; he or she isn’t required to be in the hospital while the patient is being operated on. This leads to the possibility for remote surgery, which hasn’t yet been realized (perhaps for good reason). Patients are certain to feel safer when their surgeon is going to be in the room, at the very least, if they won’t be physically performing the surgery themselves.

Robotic heart surgery can be used in a variety of situations, including mitral valve repair, coronary artery bypass, coronary artery disease, cardiothoracic surgery, mitral valve replacement, atrial septal defect repair, atrial myxoma and thrombi, mediastinal mass excision, thymectomy, epicardial lead placement, pericardial window, transmyocardial revascularization, and cardiac and thoracic tumors. In short, the robotic procedures can conquer the same problems that traditional open-heart surgery, with a shortened recovery time and fewer side effects. In short, it’s a great advancement in technology when it comes to heart surgery, but in the interim, at least, it’s important that surgeons are still present, even if only to operate computerized robotic arms.

The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice. All medical information presented should be discussed with your healthcare professional. Remember, the failure to seek timely medical advice can have serious ramifications. We urge you to discuss any current health related problems you are experiencing with a healthcare professional immediately.

Erin Harding is a freelance writer who writes about a variety of health topics including minimally invasive robotic heart surgery

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