Mitral valve prolapse repair open heart

[carol1209]

We are going over our options and want to no the pros and cons of having the  Davinci procedure over open heart?

Thank you

[kenkeith]

You may find this thread interesting.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Heart-Disease/lower-Ejection-Factor-after-mitral-valve-repair/show/431242

The advantages include precision, smaller incisions, reduced blood loss, decreased pain, and faster healing time. Sometimes there are memory and cognitive impairment with open heart surgery.

The disadvantages of the da Vinci robotic surgery include and relate more to the experience factor for the doctor and his or her team and lack of tactile sensation for the surgeon presents a learning curve as well.

If you go forward with the procedure, you may want to get an idea of the experience and number of successful procedures with the surgical team you have selected and any failures.

Thanks for your question.

[ed34]

The only con really is if something goes wrong and they have to waste valuable time in opening you up. However, if you ensure your surgeon has done many of this type of procedure, the risk in greatly minimised. My Cardiologist gave me a tour of one in London, at my request. It had a new type of camera which zooms in and out with each heart beat, so the image looks stationary. The arms also moved in and out with the heart beat, so it was like the surgeon was working on a still heart. The pros are obviously less invasive and quicker recovery time. The instruments are a lot more accurate than a surgeons hands. There is also less chance of infection through this method.