The use of robotics for coronary bypass surgeries first began in the late 1990s, but the technique has not caught on everywhere just yet, writes Abraham Gutman for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Francis Sutter, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood, is a big proponent of using a robot for coronary artery bypass graft or CABG surgery where a clogged artery is replaced with a new one.

It is a less invasive procedure than traditional CABG. There are many surgeons, however, who still question whether using a robot leads to better patient outcomes.

Only one percent of CABG surgeries in the United States in the past five years were performed using a robot, according to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. In 2021, more than 200 of the 1,800 robotic CABGS performed in the U.S. were done at Lankenau, where Sutter is chief of cardiac surgery.

Sutter said that when a robot is used for this type of surgery, the patient avoids an open procedure that involves breaking the chest bone and often stopping of the heart.

Critics of this approach say that it is often not feasible for CABG patients who need multiple bypasses and that the use of the robot often adds to the cost of the surgery.

Sutter remains hopeful though that the research he has been conducting for almost twenty years will encourage more surgeons to offer their eligible patients the less invasive procedure.

Read more about Francis Sutter at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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