Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center was the first facility in the region to have the da Vinci^® surgical robotic system.

Manufactured by Intuitive Surgical, the surgical robot is the first operative surgical robotic system in the world cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has cleared the system for use in performing many surgical procedures including general laparoscopic surgery, thoracoscopic surgery, laparoscopic radical prostatectomies and thoracoscopically assisted cardiotomy.

 “The da Vinci system facilitates minimally invasive surgery and allows for faster patient recovery with less pain, hospitalization, disability and blood loss,” said Edward H. Kincaid, MD, assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the Medical Center.

For cardiac procedures, the robotics system has been most useful for mitral valve repairs, which can be performed through ports and small incisions. The smaller incisions used in minimally invasive surgery reduce trauma to the patient, resulting in shorter recovery times, fewer complications and reduced hospitalization costs.