Robotic Surgery

• The Emory Robotic Cardiac Surgery team was one of the first cardiac surgery teams in the United States to pioneer the Intuitive da Vinci® robotic system.
• Since performing Georgia's first robotic heart surgery in 2002, we have gone on to complete over 2,000 robotically-assisted mitral valve surgeries, more than anyone else in the world.
• Our team trains surgical teams at Emory and around the world in robotic heart surgery, providing you with exceptional access to the most progressive surgical options available.

Robotic heart surgery allows surgeons to operate on your heart through tiny openings in the chest, eliminating the need to cut the breastbone and spread the ribs. All four chambers of the heart can be accessed from the right side of the chest using the da Vinci® Robotic System. Only small holes (less than ½ inch) are necessary, with no disturbance of the chest skeleton, making this surgery minimally invasive.

Since the chest is entered through five tiny holes, you can resume normal activities more quickly than if the operation is done by opening the chest. Robotic heart surgery can also provide you with the following benefits:

• Quicker return to a normal lifestyle
• Shorter recovery time in the hospital
• Fewer blood transfusions
• Potentially lower rates of stroke other complications
• Less pain after surgery and reduced need for narcotics
• Fewer restrictions after surgery
• Lower risk of infection

Additionally, robotic heart surgery has increased valve repair success rates to over 99%, due to surgeons' improved visualization of the valves through the robot and the ability to perform complex repair techniques. This increased repair rate reduces the need for valve replacement, providing a better outcome for our patients. 

Robotic heart surgery is also beneficial to patients because your surgeon can perform multiple cardiac procedures at once, with the most common being repair or replacement of the mitral and/or tricuspid valve.

The following procedures can also be performed robotically:

• Repair or replace the tricuspid valve
• Repair holes in the heart
• Close the left atrial appendage
• Remove benign tumors from the heart
• Perform atrial fibrillation ablation procedures
• Minimally invasive coronary artery bypass surgery