Minimally Invasive Robotic Heart Surgery

Dr. Francis P. Sutter Pioneering minimally invasive robotic heart surgery. Full profile Dr. Scott M. Goldman Pioneering minimally invasive mitral valve repair. Full profile

Minimally invasive surgery (also known as keyhole, robotic, MIS, laparoscopic, or endoscopic surgery) allows Main Line Health cardiac surgeons to perform many types of surgical procedures through 1-2 fingertip sized incisions. For most patients, a minimally invasive robotic approach decreases overall trauma to the body, it eliminates the need to split the breast bone and spread the ribs to access the heart. This substantially lessens pain and blood loss, is cosmetically appealing and a provides much shorter recovery.

What are the Benefits?

• Less pain and scarring
• Less risk of infection
• Less blood loss and fewer transfusions
• Shorter hospital stay
• Faster recovery
• Maintained strength and independence
• Quicker return to normal activities

Lankenau Hospital’s board-certified and highly experienced cardiac surgeons are pioneers in their fields. Their ability to adopt the latest technology, proving its effectiveness while providing quality patient care and focusing on patient safety, is unsurpassed in the Philadelphia region. Our specialized cardiac surgery team approach to patient care at Lankenau Hospital provides support to the patient and the surgeon(s) before, during and following surgery.

Robotic-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery

Dramatically enhanced visualization, precision, control and dexterity within the da Vinci® System overcome the limitations of traditional laparoscopic technology, helping surgeons to perform complex cardiac surgery in a manner never before experienced. With enhanced surgical capabilities, physicians are now able to extend the benefits of minimally invasive surgery to the broadest possible range of selected patients needing coronary artery bypass grafting, mitral valve surgery, repair of septal defect, surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation and other thoracic surgical cases.

Enabling Technology

The da Vinci Surgical System consists of an ergonomically designed surgeon’s console, a patient-side cart with four interactive robotic arms, a high-performance vision system and proprietary EndoWrist® Instruments. Powered by state-of-the-art robotic technology, the surgeon’s hand movements are mimicked and replicated, filtered to reduce tremor and seamlessly translated into precise movements of the EndoWrist Instruments.

The System cannot be programmed, nor can it make decisions on its own. The da Vinci System requires that every surgical maneuver be directed by your surgeon from the console, while the cardiac surgical team remains at your bedside.

The da Vinci Surgical System has been successfully used in hundreds of cardiac cases at Lankenau Hospital and thousands of minimally invasive procedures worldwide.

Some content on this page was provided by Intuitive Surgical. For more information, visit www.intusurg.com.