By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    physical health
    5 Ways Playing Games Can Improve Neural and Physical Health
    September 9, 2022
    Reasons For Hair Loss and Its Treatment
    Reasons For Hair Loss and Its Treatment
    February 16, 2022
    healthcare organization
    5 Actionable Strategies For Healthcare Organizations
    August 15, 2022
    Latest News
    Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
    May 16, 2025
    Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
    May 16, 2025
    Choosing the Right Supplement Manufacturer for Your Brand
    May 1, 2025
    Engineering Temporary Hospitals for Extreme Weather
    April 24, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    email marketing in healthcare
    Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing in Healthcare
    October 26, 2023
    healthcare claims
    The Role of Communication in Resolving Complex Workers’ Compensation Claims in Healthcare Settings
    September 22, 2024
    Wounds and Wisdom: What Motorcycle Accidents Teach Us About Health and Healing
    Wounds and Wisdom: What Motorcycle Accidents Teach Us About Health and Healing
    February 12, 2025
    Latest News
    Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
    May 18, 2025
    The Critical Role of Healthcare in Personal Injury Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide for Victims
    May 14, 2025
    The Backbone of Successful Trials: Clinical Data Management
    April 28, 2025
    Advancing Your Healthcare Career through Education and Specialization
    April 16, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: The Value And Criticism Of Robot-Assisted Heart Surgery
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Specialties > Cardiology > The Value And Criticism Of Robot-Assisted Heart Surgery
CardiologyMedical DevicesMedical InnovationsTechnology

The Value And Criticism Of Robot-Assisted Heart Surgery

Yaroslav Kuflinski
Last updated: September 28, 2020 8:28 pm
Yaroslav Kuflinski
Share
8 Min Read
SHARE

 

Contents
The Value: How Robots Assist in Cardiac SurgeryThe Criticism: Costs, Risks, InnovationsAfterthought: Robot-assisted Heart Surgery Is a Thing

If we were to choose just one area where healthcare reaches its peak robot adoption state, it would certainly be invasive procedures. The major dedication of health specialists, who are eager to reduce the impact of surgery, minimize patient risks and accelerate recovery, drives innovations and investments in this area. According to a recent research, the surgical robotics market can hit a hefty $98B by 2024, steadily growing at an 8.4% CAGR.

Cardiac care delivery is one of the primary settings where robot-assisted surgery is used on a continuous basis along with neurologic, gynecologic and urologic care. In cardiology, robots unlock the opportunity to perform minimally invasive heart surgeries, reducing intervention and increasing procedure precision. It translates into an array of benefits both for the patient and the healthcare organization, such as:

  • Reduced blood loss and less need for transfusion
  • Lower surgical site infection risks
  • Less trauma and pain
  • Decreased use of pain management medications
  • Shorter LOS

Additionally, a less invasive cardiac surgery also helps to facilitate patient recovery. Patients can get back to normal life sooner without activity or work restrictions, while not feeling desynchronized with the world around.

More Read

Millennials: Greatest risk to corporate data security
5 More Must-Know Emerging Health Technology Trends for Healthcare Innovators
First Steps in Inbound Marketing for Medical Device Companies
MRgFUS Could be a Viable Option for Facet Joint Back Pain
Onsite Detection of Malaria Could Be Possible with a Battery-Operated Device

Software developers from Iflexion add up to the numerous list of benefits, commenting that “we also shouldn’t disregard the patient’s comfort and keep in mind their desire to leave the surgical table as unaffected as possible. So there’s a great reason why robot-assisted cardiac surgeries can be the first choice for eligible patients. Traditional cardiac surgeries usually require a sternum cut to open a patient?s rib cage and achieve better heart access. In turn, robots can go through the small incisions between the ribs, so the scarring will be significantly reduced. While the absence of sternum cut may not be the most convincing selling point for using robots during the surgery from the care provider’s view, it’s a game changer for patients.”

But of course, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns here. There is certain skepticism over whether robots are capable to ensure the needed precision and alleviate the risks. What if the robotic technology itself poses the risk for surgical complications? How can healthcare organizations balance the procedure costs increasing by $2,500 per patient on average? We reviewed the state-of-the-art in minimally invasive heart surgery to see if the value of robots in cardiology is feasible and justified, as opposed to the criticism.

The Value: How Robots Assist in Cardiac Surgery

While the application of robots for cardiology interventions may vary and include a wider range of procedures depending on a healthcare organization, some of the common interventions include coronary artery bypass surgery, atrial septal defect repair, mitral and tricuspid valve repair, and removal of cardiac tumors (e.g., fibroelastoma, myxoma).

In each case, a multi-component robotic surgical system is used. It comprises three major elements.

Robotic arms with instruments, such as graspers and lancets. Robotic arms go through three or four ports between a patient?s ribs, with usually two-three initial tools and one camera. During the procedure, the surgical team member will be changing the instruments upon the need. Notably, robotic arms can?t move on their own. Their mere function is to work similarly to an exoskeleton ? they are enhancing the human specialist?s capabilities. The arms are embedded with motion sensors to repeat the movement of the surgeon?s hands, wrists and fingers.

A master console with controls. This is the actual workplace of the surgeon, where they manipulate the robotic arms and the surgical field view. Each of the specialist?s motion is translated into the miniaturized robotic movement, fine-tuned and highly scaled.

A 3D surgical field view with a higher visibility into a patient?s anatomy. Instead of looking at a traditional monitor from a distance, the surgeon peruses a combined three-dimensional image on the master console. Same as with VR, the specialist is actually on the surgical site, fully immersed into their actions and the patient anatomy?s response to each manipulation. The surgeon can also zoom in and out on the image for their convenience and quick decision-making.

Practically, here the human expertise mixes with the precision of mechanic movements, allowing for more controlled and refined manipulations.

The Criticism: Costs, Risks, Innovations

In our opinion, the major opening for criticism isn?t rooted in costs and potential risks of robot-assisted heart surgery. Since robotic technology is used as a tool and not an independent performer, surgeons are in full control over the process. They only gain an expanded and closer view of the patient?s heart and achieve better precision in movement, which positively influences patient health outcomes and facilitates further recovery.

Now as robot-assisted cardiac procedures ensure minimized intervention and decreased bleeding, they reduce the risks for immediate and delayed complications which result in acuities and readmissions. Therefore, the initially inflated costs can potentially not only be balanced under the value-based care approach but even reduce the overall patient-related costs in the long run. Of course, such theories require additional research to ensure transparent dependency between cardiac robotic surgeries and balanced costs.

In our opinion, much skepticism emerges because the technology itself requires substantial training and expertise from surgeons and assisting health specialists. The whole team should be eager to pass multi-step training, acquire completely new skills and reformulate their best practices. Such a transition requires significant time and budget investments, let alone full dedication from health specialists.  Currently, only a handful of large health systems and smaller practices offer minimally invasive cardiac procedures with the help of robots.

Afterthought: Robot-assisted Heart Surgery Is a Thing

Nevertheless, the adoption of robot-assisted surgery is on the rise right now. In a recent research letter, the authors used the financial statements from Intuitive Surgical, Inc. to discover that the volume of annually performed robot-assisted procedures jumped from 136K in 2008 to 877K in 2017.

While the number is average for the whole industry, it showcases the trend of robot expansion in the surgical field. Therefore, it?s not whether robots will be adopted for use in minimally invasive cardiac surgery, it?s when. Hopefully, the answer to that is ?soon.?

TAGGED:cardiologyheart surgeryrobot-assisted surgerysurgeonssurgery
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share
By Yaroslav Kuflinski
Follow:
Yaroslav Kuflinski is an AI/ML Observer at Iflexion. He has profound experience in IT and keeps up to date on the latest AI/ML research. Yaroslav focuses on AI and ML as tools to solve complex business problems and maximize operations

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Clinical Expertise
Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
Health care
May 18, 2025
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Health
May 15, 2025
Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
Health
May 15, 2025
Dr. Klaus Rentrop Shares Acute Myocardial Infarction heart treatment
Dr. Klaus Rentrop Shares Acute Myocardial Infarction
Cardiology
May 13, 2025

You Might also Like

eHealthTechnology

Video: Driving Value With Technology Investments

May 27, 2012

New Blood Test Can Detect Developmental Delays in Babies Post-Pregnancy

January 24, 2014
The latest iteration of the Neuron shown at HIMSS14 becomes a vital signs monitor with plug in sensors.
BusinessTechnology

HIMSS 2014 in Review

March 5, 2014
Health Persona
eHealthMedical InnovationsSocial MediaTechnology

How Life Sciences Are Finally Understanding Patients

August 4, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?