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Dr. Allen Raczkowski
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How Many Robotic Cardiac Surgeries Have You Performed? - Dr. Raczkowski (VIDEO)

Dr. Raczkowski shares how many robotic cardiac surgeries he has performed and why this is important for patients to know.

Dr. Raczkowski:
I have been doing robotic cardiac surgery since 2003, and I have done over 500 surgeries, so it makes me one of the most experienced surgeons in the country. There’s no question that as you do procedures, you get better and better at it. Obviously, an athlete is much better after years of experience. Same can be said for a musician. There’s quite a bit of difference from a child starting to learn how an instrument works and to play an instrument and someone who is already at Carnegie Hall.

Experience especially in minimally invasive surgery is a very important issue because the trend towards using the da Vinci® robot, especially in heart surgery, is very new. It is very restricted across the country. There are less than 20 active programs, meaning programs that do more than just 20 cases a year in the country. Now these are improving as time goes on and their experiences gain, but what makes Banner Heart Hospital unique in that we are at the very beginning of the revolution in minimally invasive robotic surgery. We have been there from the beginning. We are the people who have the experience and have been helpful in teaching others to use these techniques.

Patients who come to the Banner Heart robotic program can be rest assured that they are looking at one of the most experienced crews available in the country. We have seen most of the problems associated with minimally invasive. We have a better, I believe experience allows you a better judgement in terms of those patients who would benefit from minimally invasive surgery and that the conduct of the procedure gives a reproducible result so that the patient gets the best and most optimal care.

About Dr. Raczkowski, M.D.:
Dr. Allen Raczkowski, certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, leads the robotic heart surgery program at Banner Heart Hospital. He has performed nearly 400 procedures using that surgical system, making the Banner Heart Hospital robotic surgery program one of the top three in the nation.

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