What is robotic bypass surgery?

What is robotic bypass surgery?

Bypass surgery is often a short form for coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), though there are other forms of bypass surgeries as well. Coronary arteries are blood vessels supplying oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. When they have developed critical narrowing due to the accumulation of fat or clot inside them, the person gets episodic chest pain. If medications and lifestyle modifications do not improve symptoms, another option is removal of blocks by a procedure known as balloon angioplasty. Some types of blocks in blood vessels cannot be dealt with any of these options and need bypass surgery.

In conventional bypass surgery, the breastbone is split under anaesthesia in the operation theater and the blocks are bypassed either with a vein from the legs or an artery from within the chest. Robotic surgery aims at avoiding such major procedures in the chest wall using advanced technology. The procedure is known as totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass grafting or TECAB. TECAB is done through four or five small ports in the chest wall with the help of da Vinci Robotic Surgical System. The procedure has also been called robotic CABG.

Tiny video cameras attached to robotic arm give a detailed three dimensional view of the operating field inside the chest cavity. Robotic endostabilizer is available for beating heart surgeries. Advanced surgeries aimed at bypassing blocks in multiple blood vessels of the heart is also feasible using TECAB. The operating surgeon instead of standing beside the subject, sits in an operating console and controls the robotic arms for completing the procedure. Robotic surgery is much less invasive than a conventional bypass surgery and the recovery is faster. Scars on the chest are much smaller and the need for pain relieving medications after the surgery is lesser. Risk of complications like bleeding and infection are lower for robotic bypass surgery. Hospital stay is lesser and faster return to work and activities of daily living are possible.

Occasionally conversion to open surgery may be needed if robotic surgery is not successful. Even though the risks of complications are lower than open surgery, they are not zero. Risk may vary from individual to individual depending on the underlying disease and the presence of other conditions.

Link to a medical journal article: Robotic coronary artery bypass graft surgery