Robotic heart transplant
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wrote on 22 Jun 2025, 15:20 last edited by
..without cracking the chest. Amazing.
In a medical achievement, surgeons at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston performed the first fully robotic heart transplant on an adult patient in the United States. Led by Dr. Kenneth Liao, the procedure avoided opening the chest or cutting the breastbone, reducing surgical trauma and recovery time. The patient, a 45-year-old man with end-stage heart failure, was successfully discharged a month after surgery with no complications. This innovation, which minimizes bleeding and infection risks, positions Baylor at the forefront of cardiothoracic care. The milestone reflects a major leap forward in minimally invasive heart surgery.
Source: Baylor College of Medicine
Image: Dr. Kenneth Liao can be seen using the surgical robot, the same device he used to perform the first successful, fully robotic heart transplant on an adult patient in the United States.
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wrote on 22 Jun 2025, 15:22 last edited by
Damn.
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wrote on 22 Jun 2025, 17:19 last edited by
Amazing!!!
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wrote on 22 Jun 2025, 22:23 last edited by
So ... they took the old heart out and put the replacement in through the diaphragm?
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wrote on 22 Jun 2025, 22:31 last edited by
If they could this for whole-heart replacement, supposedly the approach is also feasible for partial transplants like a valve replacement or a valve repair.
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wrote on 23 Jun 2025, 00:18 last edited by Mik
They’ve been doing no crack valves for quite a while. I wonder if bypasses are feasible.