If the valve is leaky, blood backs up into the atrium and surgery may be necessary. The conventional method finds doctors cutting through the breastbone and then opening the chest with a retractor. With robotics, only three small incisions are made into the chest between the ribs. This results in fewer bleeding complications and less pain, said ECU cardiac surgeon Dr. L. Wiley Nifong. Another positive aspect of the use of robotics is seen in the difference in length of the patients' hospital stays.
Conventional surgery requires a hospital stay of roughly nine days.
Operated by Chitwood, the system won approval from the Food and Drug Administration in July. It has been used in several abdominal operations nationwide since then. According to The Associated Press, Mitral valve repairs via robots have been done in Europe. The computer is used to control the robotic arms. Also, a small arm, equipped with a camera, is inserted in a separate incision and provides the surgeon with 3-dimensional images of the patient's heart.