The first robotic heart surgery performed in Emilia-Romagna was announced today, at the Hesperia Hospital in Modena, a Garofalo Health Care (GHC) Group hospital accredited by the NHS.
In the presence of Raffaele Donini, Councilor for Health of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Gian Carlo Mazzuchelli, Mayor of Modena, Guido Dalla Rosa Prati, Councilor of the GHC Group and President of Hesperia Hospital, Alessandro Dall'Ora, CEO of Hesperia Hospital and Federico March, Medical Director of Hesperia Hospital, the procedure and results of the operation successfully performed by Dr. Alberto Albertini, director of the Cardiac Surgery Unit of Hesperia Hospital, were presented.
The operation, carried out in the new dedicated operating room equipped with the innovative Da Vinci robotic system, was carried out on a 76-year-old male patient suffering from a complex coronary pathology involving the common trunk of the left coronary artery and inoperable with traditional techniques due to a “porcelain aorta”.
The new operating technique represents a fundamental step forward in the minimally invasive cardiac surgery program that distinguishes Hesperia Hospital in the treatment of all cardiac pathologies: this technology allows, in fact, the reduction of the trauma of the operation, the post-operative pain and the reduction of hospitalization times , faster physical recovery and a return to a normal life in less time.
Robotic technology allows operations on the heart to be performed without the need for extensive surgical incisions, reducing invasiveness and the risk of complications; furthermore, the optical system and the navigation system allow the surgeon to perform the operation as if he were inside the patient.
In detail, the operation is performed without opening the patient's chest, through the introduction of miniaturized instruments which are inserted into the body through tiny holes and then connected to a sophisticated robotic system which allows the surgeon to maneuver them remotely, thanks to a console positioned outside the operating field which reproduces the finest hand movements. The refinement and freedom of movement of these instruments allow maneuvers that cannot be achieved with traditional instruments.
The first robotic cardiac surgery operation was performed on a Da Vinci Robot prototype in 1998 and since then the system has been the subject of continuous evolution which has led robotics to currently be at the forefront of technological innovations applied to surgery, in continuous evolution . In fact, the system allows surgeons, who may also be abroad, to interact with the professionals present in the operating room given that the entire system is connected online and the entire procedure is monitored by a centralized security system that controls everyone the machine parameters during the intervention.
In Italy, there are currently only four active centers with robotic cardiac surgery programs.
