Race is not the enemy. Progress continues for new heart bypass surgery procedure Efforts are moving forward in the College of Medicine on pre-clinical work to develop techniques for performing minimally invasive heart bypass surgery. This minimally invasive surgery is performed through incisions in the chest walls smaller than the diameter of a pencil. Ralph Damiano Jr., chief of cardiothoracic surgery, and his team are working with Computer Motion Inc., of Goleta, Calif., to perfect the microsurgery. In conventional open-heart bypass surgery, a deep incision is made down the chest, and splitting the breast bone is necessary to allow visualization and access to the heart.
Recovery can take from a few weeks to several months.
With minimally invasive surgery there are no incisions, only ports the diameter of a pencil. During the procedure, the surgeon sits before a screen several feet away from the operating table and views the heart on a television monitor. The surgeon controls the instruments with specifically designed handles connected to a computer. The computer translates the surgeon's movements precisely to robotic arms attached to the operating room table. The benefits of this kind of procedure include shorter hospital stays, decreased pain and faster recovery times.