Heart Valve Repair Program
If you are suffering from complex mitral valve
disease, or have been turned down for another
cardiac care provider, The Heart Valve Repair
Program at Penn Cardiac Care at Penn Presbyterian can
offer you advanced repair options. Our ability
to treat a wide variety of patients with mitral
valve insufficiency, particularly with the use
of robotics, sets it apart from other programs
in the Delaware Valley
Often, mitral valve repair is a better choice
than mitral valve replacement. Advantages of mitral
valve repair include:
- increase in long term survival
- decreased risk of infection and complications
- no need for long-term use of blood thinners
Complex cases seen by our physicians include:
- severe mitral insufficiency with minimal or
no symptoms who require repair prior to the
development of heart failure
- congestive heart failure and poor cardiac
function, who require repair for the treatment
of heart failure
Cardiac Robotic Surgery
Our cardiothoracic surgeons are renown for their
skill in mitral valve repair and replacement,
particularly using minimally invasive techniques
and robotics. Instead of performing a sternotomy
(which involves cutting the chest and pulling
the ribs apart to gain access to the heart), minimally
invasive surgery involves small incisions through
which the surgeon operates under direct vision.
Using long-handled surgical tools and watching
his own movements on the video screen, the surgeon
performs delicate mitral valves repairs and replacements
through small incisions in the patient's chest.
Watching the heart on a video screen instead of
looking inside the patient's body enables the
surgeon to reduce the size of the incisions he
makes in the chest. Smaller incisions translate
into dramatically reduced trauma and quicker recovery
for patients.
Penn Cardiac Care at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
is currently the only program in the region to
use AESOP™ (Automated Endoscopic System for
Optimal Positioning) 7, a surgical robotic arm
that holds an endoscope containing a tiny camera,
during cardiac surgery. The AESOP robotic arm
is the first surgical robot approved by the United
States Food and Drug Administration, and with
it, Penn Cardiac Care surgeons are able to reduce
the size of the incisions in the chest, which
translates into dramatically reduced trauma and
quicker recovery for patients.
AESOP responds to the surgeon's voice during
surgery. When wanting to peer into a heart's interior
during an intricate mitral valve operation, the
surgeon uses clipped commands to instruct the
robot to change positions. While AESOP holds the
endocope with a steadiness that no human can match,
the video images from the robotic endoscope are
displayed on a monitor adjacent to the operating
table, providing the surgeon - and his entire
OR team - with a bird's eye view of the patient's
mitral valve, which is a definite advantage.
The mitral valve is situated in the heart's interior,
so the organ must remain still during mitral valve
repair or replacement. Patients are placed on
cardiopulmonary bypass machine to stop the beating
of their heart and to artificially pump blood
through their body during mitral valve surgery.
The goal at Penn Cardiac Care at Penn Presbyterian
Medical Center is to progress to total port cardiovascular
surgery. Using this amazing technique, instead
of manipulating the patient directly, the surgeon
views the patient's heart on a video monitor and
operates through robotic instruments that the
surgeon controls while seated at a nearby console
(located either in the operating room or in another
room). With the aid of a computer, robotic arms
that have surgical instruments attached replicate
the surgeon's actions at the remote console. The
robot performs the surgical movements with the
precision that these increasingly advanced minimally
invasive procedures demand. Using this space-age
technology, the surgeon will be able to orchestrate
complex procedures that are currently impossible
to perform
Feature article: Read more about how AESOP is
revolutionizing
cardiac surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Surgeons
Clark
W. Hargrove III, MD
Rohinton
Morris, MD
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