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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2008;135:243-246
© 2008 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Editorial

Robotic cardiac surgery: Time told!

Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Carolinas Heart Institute, Carolinas Medical Center and Heineman Medical Research Laboratories, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Received for publication March 27, 2007; accepted for publication May 22, 2007.

^_* Address for reprints: Francis Robicsek, MD, PhD, 1001 Blythe Blvd, Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28203. (Email: Francis.Robicsek@carolinashealthcare.org).

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I do not see a widespread use of (robotics) in cardiac surgery in the future because most cases are really way too complex, and many surgeons should learn to do the simple video-assisted surgery with the same quality avoiding the high cost of robotic technology.

Friedrich Wilhelm Mohr, MD, PhD, personal communication, 2006

Assimilation of this (robotic) technology by cardiac programs has been slow. ¹

Evelio Rodriguez, MD, and W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr, MD, 2006

Five years ago in an editorial to the Journal entitled "Robotic Cardiac Surgery: Quo Vadis?" I expressed serious doubts on the future application and general acceptance of this novel technology. These views were based on the high cost of the equipment itself, the added expenses of the individual procedures, the extended operating time, the bizarre concept of long-distance surgery, and, foremost, the question, What can robotics offer that other simpler and equally minimally invasive techniques cannot?

In a "counter-editorial," W. Randolph Chitwood, my good friend and fellow Carolinian, expressed a strong opposing view comparing my stance with that of Paget, who in 1897 prophesied the end of progress in cardiac surgery. The editor gave me the opportunity to respond, which was brief: Time will tell!

Randy, it looks like time told! Now, 4 years later, we have revisited the issue of the extent of application of robots in cardiac surgery. Unable to get the data any other way, we forwarded questionnaires in July of 2006 to all institutions in the United States that owned a da Vinci robot (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, Calif) concerning the yearly volume of robotic heart operations. We were able to obtain 260 responses (98.2%) to 265 inquiries. On the basis of those responses, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) There was indeed an annual gradual increase in the number of da Vinci . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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				T. S. Guy and E. Tseng Robotic cardiac surgery: Give it more time! J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., July 1, 2008; 136(1): 237 - 238. [Full Text] [PDF]