Robotic technology helped resident make speedy recovery from heart surgery

After having major heart surgery, Lyle Johnson was out of the hospital in five days and in 10 days was back to his daily activities.

That's because the 81-year-old winter resident didn't go through the standard open heart surgery: Johnson was operated on by a Phoenix-based doctor who used the help of a robot to perform a mitral valve repair.

Using cardiac robotic technology, surgeons are able to operate on various heart conditions, through small incisions eliminating the need to open up the chest, said Allen Raczkowski, cardiovascular surgeon at Banner Heart Hospital in Phoenix.

The surgery technique is the same used in traditional surgeries but since the cardiac robotic procedure does not require large incisions, patients are able to recuperate much faster, Raczkowski explained during a community seminar Wednesday evening.

It is a much less invasive approach than conventional heart surgery. Patients experience shorter hospital stays, a significant decrease in wound infections, faster recovery, and they can get back to normal activities in one to two weeks, Raczkowski said.

The only signs of Johnson's Aug. 9 surgery are four quarter-sized scars on his upper body.

"It's great," Johnson said of the surgery procedure.

He no longer feels tired and walks and exercises on the treadmill and bicycle every day, Johnson said.

When using this technology to operate, the doctor sits on a console that is connected to the robot's arms by a fiber optic cable and on a monitor looks into the patient through stereoscopic vision that's 10 times magnified.

The surgeon can sit a few feet from the patient and by using a camera the surgeon guides the four arms of the robot to perform the surgery.

"The instrument moves in the same direction as the surgeon's hands. The motion is instinctive," Raczkowski said. "It's like your own hands."

The robotic surgery, first available in 2001 but not currently in Yuma, has the same cost as a traditional heart surgery, he said.

Using it has shown "long term success - the equivalent of just having the same operation done in a conventional fashion," Raczkowski said.

The robotic approach is also available for other medical procedures, Raczkowski said.

For more information visit www.davincisurgery.com

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Juana M. Gyek can be reached at jgyek@yumasun.com or 539-6872.