Can the next surgery be performed using a robot? Meet patients who tried it – nationwide

Ferenc Jakab needed cardiac surgery and the robot took action.

The 60-year-old Ontario resident has been monitoring heart murmurs for over 20 years, checking in with a doctor every few years. With recent visits, news has shifted. It was during surgery at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.

Yakab was healthy, active, symptoms free, exercised regularly and even djed on the sides. However, doctors warned that the condition could increase risk with age, so now they called for correction of the tweet.

“They said that because you look good, you're 60 and there are no other issues, now is the time, so you should do this surgery when you're strong and easy to recover,” he told Global News. “And I said to them, 'Why? Let's go.' ”

After hearing the news, he and his wife were joking about what the surgery would turn out.

“We were talking about approaches and they said, 'Hey, they're going to use robots,'” he said with a laugh.

“And the next day I'm at work and the phone (and the doctor) says, 'You're a candidate for robotic surgery.' ”

Yakab spent the night studying robotic surgery. This is a technique that will quickly gain position in Canada as more hospitals begin to use it with procedures like hip and knee replacement, spinal cord manipulation, hysterectomy and other hysterectomy.

appeal? Robotic surgery often means smaller incisions, less pain, lower risk of infection, and much faster recovery.

However, this procedure had only one small catch. Jakab will be the first patient in the Toronto area to undergo robotic heart surgery. Still, he wasn't too worried and said the profit outweighed the risk.

“The robot's name is Da Vinci. The future is now full of robots.

On March 26th, Da Vinci The Robot carried out a groundbreaking procedure with a team of trained cardiac surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists.

You might imagine that robotic surgery is just working alone, but that's far from reality, said Dr. Bobby Yanagawa, a cardiac surgeon and director of the cardiac surgery department at St. Michael's Hospital.

“It's a surgeon who really controls the robot's hands,” he said.

“So, there's a nursing team that's on the robotic console, and there's a nursing team that's ready to intervene, and there's a nursing team that's ready to intervene, and there's anesthesia coworkers on the head of the table and keep the patient safe during the surgery.”

So, since the entire team is involved, what is the point of using a robot in the first place?

The advantage of the robot is that its instrument is much smaller than the surgeon's hands, Yanagawa explained.

Robotic surgery allows for much smaller incisions compared to traditional methods, he said. Typically, large incisions are required to access a particular area, but robotic precision instruments can fit in small openings.

As a result, he added, after procedures like robotic mitral valve surgery, the incision is very small and it is often difficult to say that a person has had surgery, even after a year.

A 2023 study published in the Journal of Thoracic Disease examined how robot-assisted cardiac surgery using the Da Vinci system stacked up with traditional open heart approaches. They found that patients who underwent robotic surgery usually had less time in the ICU and left the hospital earlier. Overall, their recovery outcomes have been better.

Researchers also said that while the da Vinci system is safe and effective, it takes time and training for surgeons to get it.

“Robotic surgery can be considered the pinnacle of cardiac surgery, and we need to be very satisfied with the type of surgery we are doing, the type of mitral valve surgery.

Robotic surgery offers a great advantage, but it still requires a very skilled surgeon to operate it. So comes Dr. Gianluilli, two cardiac surgeons who worked on Dr. Daniel and Jakab's heart.

Bisleri, a cardiac surgeon and director of minimally invasive cardiac surgery at St. Michael's Hospital, helped perform robotic surgery. He said robotic surgery is an important tool in continuous efforts to minimize patient trauma and improve recovery time.

“The real big impact is postoperative early recovery compared to patients undergoing traditional surgery, allowing them to return faster with daily activities,” he said.

Burns, a cardiac surgeon at St. Michael's Hospital and a clinical medical scientist who investigates organ damage and repair, said there are significant benefits to using robots, including better dexterity and clearer visualization compared to traditional approaches.

“One of the general criticisms (of robotic surgery) is the lack of tactile feedback. You can't feel what I'm doing. And this, growing up as a video gamer, I found it to clear a very easy hurdle,” he said.

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Yakab said he woke up after the surgery. The first few nights were rough, mainly due to tubes and back and neck pain, but once IV came out he started to feel better the whole time. From there, things continued to improve.

His surgery was successful, with perfect valve repairs and no residual leaks. He was discharged from the hospital three days after the surgery.

Patients usually recover faster than after robotic cardiac surgery. This is because the robot allows the surgeon to access the heart through a small opening between the ribs. This will potentially make your recovery much faster.

He said patients could recover in just a week or two. A significant jump from a normal 3-4 month period takes to recover from a conventional sternum resection.

“When we got home, I told my wife, I can't believe it, we're already at home. And although I'm not 100%, I feel OK,” Jakab said.

Yakab had a very positive experience and was given advice to anyone considering robotic surgery.

“Just do that. I read about how robotic surgery is more accurate, less blood loss and easier recovery. That convinced me,” he said.

Robotic surgery is still relatively rare in Canada, according to a 2022 survey published in the Canada Journal of Surgery.

At the time of the study, 30 surgical robots were operating in 14 cities, carrying out approximately 6,000 procedures each year.

The study also noted that robot-assisted surgery was not funded by the Canadian public health system and instead relied entirely on charity and research support.

However, surgeons like Bislari believe that it only hurts the surface of what robotic surgery can do.

“I think this will be an incredibly powerful tool that will continue to push our ability to dramatically change the way we treat heart disease,” he said. “And I think we'll see exponential growth in these steps and further innovations that continue to impact patient care.”

Yanagawa agreed.

He said that it's difficult to predict the future, but he still wants to be a part of it.

“We want to be part of our business and we want to be part of leading change,” he said.

“The truth is, in Canada and indeed, around the world, perhaps less than 1% of cardiac surgeries are done robotically. And if that goes to 5, 10, 20, 25%, we don't want to be left behind. We want to be on the forefront.”