PALERMO (ITALPRESS) – A cardiac surgery was performed for the first time in a facility in southern Italy using the Da Vinci system, a sophisticated robot that allows video-assisted minimally invasive cardiac surgery. The surgery-a coronary artery bypass-was performed in Palermo at ISMETT, the facility created through a partnership between the Sicilian Region and UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Performing the operation was the team led by Professor Francesco Musumeci, Senior Consultant in Cardiac Surgery, with Dr. Maria Scarlata in the operating room overseeing anesthesia management. The Da Vinci is a robotic platform that allows a computerized interface between surgeon and surgical instruments. It is already used in ISMETT for abdominal and thoracic surgeries, which allows precise and effective surgery as well as minimal invasiveness.
The one performed in recent days is the first use of robotic technology in cardiac surgery as well. “The use of robotics in cardiac surgery is the approach of the future,” Musumeci explains, “it avoids the classic surgical cut and allows minimally invasive operations, thus improving the quality of care offered to patients. The technique has, in fact, several advantages for the patient; it allows greater precision in the surgical gesture, minimizes the risk of possible complications, and reduces postoperative hospitalization time.”
To perform the procedure, 3 small holes are drilled in the patient’s chest through which a small camera and two tiny surgical instruments are inserted and a lateral incision of about 4 centimeters is made. The surgeon sits at a console in whose screen he has a high-definition, 10-fold magnified three-dimensional image of the surgical field, and from the console he controls the robot arms by means of two manipulators (similar to joysticks).
This allows for an optimal view of the different anatomical structures and thus for maximum precision. “The advantages for the patient,” Professor Musumeci further emphasizes, “are many. The surgery is done by beating heart, without the use of the extracoroporeal circulation system, so the postoperative course is very rapid and the risk of complications minimal. The patient can leave the hospital after 3-4 days of hospitalization and quickly return to his normal life.”
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
