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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2006;132:753-754
© 2006 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Editorial

Our destination and our destiny: Real endoscopic cardiac surgery

Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.

Received for publication May 31, 2006; accepted for publication June 7, 2006.

^_* Address for reprints: W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr, MD, Professor and Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858. (Email: chitwoodw@ecu.edu).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

During the past 10 years, cardiac surgeons have attempted to optimize safety and operative quality while minimizing patient trauma. The springboard for minimizing incision size and altering surgical techniques has been the fact that arterial obstructions could be treated via a single arterial puncture and a catheter. Recently, cardiologists foisted the notion that not only is this approach the least invasive method possible but also that drug-eluting stents are achieving "nirvana" status in curing coronary disease. Similarly, many are convinced that valvular heart disease can be cured or "well" palliated by percutaneous methods that include stent-mounted aortic valves as well as mitral leaflet "clipping" or annular "stiffening" devices. The rise of these and other technologic "wonders" is causing cardiac surgeons to re-evaluate our specialty position in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. We must now look toward innovative endoscopic methods for doing some cardiac operations.

Our . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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