The University of Maryland Medical Center recently acquired a robot that will enable surgeons to perform multiple-vessel heart bypass surgery using minimally invasive, beating-heart techniques.
The da Vinci S Surgical System, which has been used in prostate cancer surgery, has robotic arms controlled by surgeons using a computer console in the operating room. Three dime-sized incisions are made for the instruments and a high-resolution camera.
Patients are able to go home within a few days and recover more quickly than with traditional open-heart surgery, which often requires six or seven days in the hospital.
