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Dr. Raczkowski shares if minimally invasive robotic heart surgery creates less scarring than traditional heart surgery.
Dr. Raczkowski:
As an example, mitral valve surgery, which is probably the most common robotic procedure done, and it’s also more common in women, the incisions are made along the bathing suit line to the lateral or outer aspect towards the breast. Those incisions again are the size of a dime or quarter and the average woman who would wear a two-piece bathing suit, you would not be able to see those incisions.
Because there’s no major muscle or bone, which is cut, the pain and recovery process is so much less, patients are able to resume their normal activities normally within a week following the surgery. So there’s a substantial difference both in the recovery phase, the amount of pain that’s involved, and cosmetic, in terms of positioning of those incisions.
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.