Operation by Robot

Q: I’ve been reading about robotic surgery, which sounds scary to me. What types of cardiac surgery are being done with the help of robots?

A. Robotically assisted surgery is one of the most recent innovations in heart surgery. It is considered minimally invasive because it reduces the extent of surgery and the trauma to the heart. An endoscope (a small tube with a camera attached) is passed through a small incision in the chest, allowing the heart surgeon to see the heart and its valves and arteries.
           
The surgeon can use the computer screen to move the surgical instruments in a fashion similar to players manipulating computer games. Robotics is being used with coronary artery bypass surgery, to repair the mitral valve, and to fix some congenital heart abnormalities, including atrial septal defects (a hole between the left and right atria).

Jennifer H. Mieres, M.D., is director of nuclear cardiology and associate professor of clinical medicine at New York University. She’s also a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.