What You Need to Know About Robotically Assisted Heart Valve Surgery

Podcast Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to Love Your Heart, brought to you by Cleveland Clinic's Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute. These podcasts will help you learn more about your heart, thoracic and vascular systems, ways to stay healthy and information about diseases and treatment options. Enjoy.

Marc Gillinov, MD:

Hi, I'm Marc Gillinov, Chair of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, and I'm with Dr. Tarek Malas. Together, we do a great deal of robotic cardiac surgery. We're often asked, "Why do robotic cardiac surgery? What are the advantages?" And first and most important is the incisions are small. The largest incision is generally about this big, going through the right side. And because the incisions are small and we don't cut through any bone, the recovery is much quicker than it is through standard heart surgery.

So why do we do it for the patient? Quicker recovery, there's also lower risk of infection and less blood loss. On the surgical side, we can see everything inside the heart with an incredible high-definition camera, such that with the small incisions and the robotic camera, we actually have better visualization of structures inside the heart than we would through a standard incision. So for the patient, quicker recovery, small incisions. For the surgeon, a really better view of the heart.

Tarek Malas, MD:

What can we do with a robot? Cleveland Clinic is a pioneer in robotic surgery, and it is an excellent tool to have in our armamentarium of surgical tools. What we can do with the robot is we can repair your mitral valve or replace your mitral valve. We can repair your tricuspid valve. We can also do ASD [atrial septal defect] closures as well as removal of certain masses. We can also do coronary artery bypass grafting as well with the robot.

Marc Gillinov, MD:

What this means is that if you have one of these conditions, an issue with the mitral valve, tricuspid valve, a hole in your heart, the septal defect, certain kinds of benign masses, or you need selected type of coronary artery bypass grafting, you should ask your doctor, "Am I a candidate for a less invasive robotic approach, which will get me a quicker recovery?" To determine whether or not you're a candidate for robotic surgery, we do some preoperative tests. These generally include an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of the heart, a CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis to determine your anatomy and see if you're a candidate for robotic surgery. In general, there will also be a coronary angiogram or a cardiac catheterization to see if there are blockages in arteries of the heart. Once we have completed these tests, we can tell you, "Yes, you are a candidate for robotic surgery, which for you is going to mean smaller incisions and a quicker recovery."

Tarek Malas, MD:

If you have any of these conditions that we listed, it's important to get a second opinion and a consult. I recommend you do that here at the Cleveland Clinic. It's important to discuss your medical condition with a center that has a lot of expertise, and this is the place to be. In our experience here, we've done more than 2,400 robotic mitral valve repairs with exceptional results. We have a 99% repair rate and a surgical risk of less than one in 2,000 patients.

Marc Gillinov, MD:

These kinds of results happen only with extensive experience and a dedicated team, which means that for Dr. Malas and me, every day, we operate in the same operating room. That's operating room number 70 here at the Cleveland Clinic with our own surgical robot and with a team that is dedicated to robotics and that has been doing it with us for years. If you have a condition that you think might be amenable to robotic surgery, meaning for you, a smaller incision and quicker recovery, we would be honored to help you.

Announcer:

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