India reports to have one of the highest burdens of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) worldwide, with the annual number of deaths from CVD estimated to be 4.77 million in 2020. And since this number is only increasing, heart surgery has become a significant procedure in the healthcare field.

Advancements are being made consistently in medical technology to improve heart surgery success rates, and one such advancement gaining traction is robotic heart surgery. This revolutionary surgical technique combines precision and minimally invasive procedures, resulting in reduced pain, heart surgery recovery time, and improved patient outcomes. But how exactly does robotic surgery achieve this?

Let's delve into the details to understand how robotic surgery reduces pain and recovery time in heart patients.

What is Robotic Heart Surgery?

A type of minimally invasive cardiac surgery, robotic heart surgery involves a surgeon using a robotic system to perform complex heart procedures. Unlike traditional open-heart surgery, which requires large cuts to open your chest, robotic-assisted heart surgery enables the surgeon to access the affected area by controlling surgical instruments with high precision and making smaller incisions. 

All a surgeon does is sit at a console and look at the machine to gain a 3D view of the surgical area. Moreover, they operate the arms of the robotic system, which works similarly to human hands, wrists, and fingers with enhanced accuracy.

Who Can Undergo a Robotic Heart Surgery?

No matter how advanced a robotic heart surgery is, it might not be suitable for all patients. Healthcare professionals usually perform diagnostic tests to figure out whether you are an ideal candidate for robotic heart surgery. These tests can include the following:

• Chest X-ray
• Cardiac catheterisation
• CT scan
• Echocardiogram, etc.

Once you are tested, your doctor will receive the results. If results show you can proceed with the robotic surgery, they determine what type of surgical treatment is appropriate for your condition. It’s decided based on several factors, such as the type and severity of your cardiac disorder, your test results, your overall health condition, and your medical history.

So, what cardiac conditions can be treated via robot-assisted heart surgeries? Healthcare professionals usually advise patients to undergo robotic heart surgery when diagnosed with the following heart conditions:

• Aortic stenosis and regurgitation
• Mitral valve prolapse and regurgitation
• Atrial septal defect (ASD)
• Coronary artery disease
• Atrial fibrillation
• Heart tumours
• tricuspid valve leak

Robotic Surgery Reducing Pain and Recovery Time

Some of the most significant benefits of any robotic heart surgery are that it leads to relatively less pain and faster recovery than conventional heart surgical procedures. The question is how a robotic surgery is able to reduce pain and recovery time after heart valve replacement, atrial fibrillation ablation, or heart bypass procedures.

Let’s first understand how traditional open-heart surgery works. During this conventional surgical procedure, a surgeon makes a large incision through your chest, leading to trauma to your chest wall. It’s why people usually suffer from post-surgical complications like significant blood loss, increased pain, and a lengthy recovery period and hospital stays. 

On the other hand, robotic heart surgery doesn’t require your chest to be opened fully. This surgical technique uses small incisions, which minimise the trauma to your chest wall, and thus, you don’t suffer from much pain and are able to heal much faster.

How does Robotic Surgery Reduce Pain and Recovery Time?

Here discussed are some factors that lead to reduced pain and recovery time when undergoing robotic heart surgery: 

• Minimally Invasive Incisions

Unlike traditional surgeries that require a 8-12 inch cut, robotic heart surgery requires a surgeon to make incisions less than an inch long to access the surgical area. By making several small incisions, a surgeon makes sure your nearby healthy muscles are not damaged. Therefore, you experience less pain, fewer scars, and a lower risk of infection, enabling your body to heal quickly and resume daily activities sooner.

• Precise Surgical Movements

Sometimes, even skilled and experienced surgeons fail to control their hands, wrists, and fingers when operating on a heart patient. However, the arms of robotic systems offer unparalleled precision, allowing surgeons to operate with extreme accuracy. 

These highly precise surgical movements prevent delicate structures within your heart from damaging unnecessarily, reducing the risk of tissue trauma and postoperative pain. With a lower risk of post-surgery complications, you don’t have to worry about heart bypass recovery time. Your heart and body will be healed within a few weeks or months.

• Enhanced Visuals for Precision

When operating on the patient’s heart using a robotic system, surgeons operate from the console while using the machine that provides high-definition, 3D visuals of the patient’s surgical area. 

The enhanced view of your heart’s anatomy with the naked eye helps a surgeon perform delicate valve repair or replacement or bypass surgery without affecting nearby healthy tissues or muscles. Hence, you can expect relatively better outcomes and fewer or no associated risks after robot-assisted heart surgery, reducing your recovery time.

• Less Blood Loss 

When undergoing traditional open-heart surgeries, you can expect to face a risk of blood loss due to large incisions and poor precision and accuracy. Some patients even end up requiring blood transfusions. 

But when undergoing a robotic heart surgery, you don’t have to be stressed about too much blood loss. The surgery’s minimally invasive approach leads to less bleeding, and thus, you will be experiencing less pain. With little to no bleeding, you might not need any blood transfusion, and you will be less likely to contract infections. 

As a result, you can expect faster recovery and can go home within days or weeks, depending on your cardiac condition and general body health. 

• Lower Risk of Infection

Minimally invasive robotic heart surgical procedures usually carry a lower risk of surgical site infections, all thanks to smaller incisions and reduced exposure to external contaminants. With lower infection rates, you are more likely to heal faster.

• Less Postoperative Fatigue

You can hear many patients complaining about fatigue and discomfort after undergoing a traditional open-heart surgery. But all these complaints take a back seat when getting your cardiac disease or disorder treated via robotic surgery. Patients usually experience less pain and physical strain post-robot-assisted operation, enabling faster healing and return to their usual level of energy and mobility.

To Conclude

Robotic surgeries have improved cardiac care to a greater extent. Now, you don’t have to worry about being in pain, facing extreme blood loss, or staying in the hospital too long until you recover after undergoing a heart operation.

Do you need to undergo heart surgery to treat your cardiac condition? Looking for a surgical procedure that can reduce your pain and heart surgery recovery time? Schedule a robot-assisted heart surgery with specialist cardiac surgeons at Medanta.