KHOU11- HOUSTON — Surgeons at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston successfully performed the first fully robotic heart transplant in the United States.
Using a robot, lead surgeon Dr. Kenneth Liao and his team conducted the operation without opening the chest or breaking the breastbone. Instead, the team used small incisions to remove the diseased heart and implant the new one, avoiding a chest incision entirely.
“Opening the chest and spreading the breastbone can affect wound healing and delay rehabilitation and prolong the patient’s recovery, especially in heart transplant patients who take immunosuppressants,” Liao said. “With the robotic approach, we preserve the integrity of the chest wall, which reduces the risk of infection and helps with early mobility, respiratory function and overall recovery.” more here
That’s amazing! I can understand the removal of the diseased heart, but how did they replace it with a new heart?
That’s cool!
At Mass General Brigham & Women’s their experimenting with genetically modified pig kidneys
That’s the hospital where my dad had his heart surgery in 2000. Afterwards, the surgeon told my dad he bought him two more years. Two years later, he died suddenly. Two days before he passed, I let my him know what a good father he was and how much I appreciated it. My mom told me that meant so much to him to know that.
Why? So doctors can avoid getting a patient’s blood on their hands?
Dr. Hoo: Don’t blame me because the patient died…blame the robot.