Background: Minimally invasive cardiac surgery has emerged as an alternative to conventional open surgery. This report reviews our experience with atrial septal defect using the da VinciTM surgical robot system.
Materials and methods: This retrospective study included 50 consecutive patients who underwent atrial septal defect repair using the da VinciTM surgical robot system between October 2007 and May 2011. Among these, 13 patients (26%) were approached through a totally endoscopic approach and the others by mini-thoracotomy. Nineteen patients had concomitant procedures including tricuspid annuloplasty (n=10), mitral valvuloplasty (n=9), and maze procedure (n=4). The mean follow-up duration was 16.9±10.4 months.
Results: No remnant interatrial shunt was detected by intraoperative or postoperative echocardiography. The atrial septal defects were mainly repaired by Gore-Tex patch closure (80%). There was no operative mortality or serious surgical complications. The aortic cross clamping time and cardiopulmonary bypass time were 74.1±32.2 and 157.6±49.7 minutes, respectively. The postoperative hospital stay was 5.5±3.3 days.
Conclusion: The atrial septal defect repair with concomitant procedures like mitral valve repair or tricuspid valve repair using the da VinciTM system is a feasible method. In addition, in selected patients, complete port access can be helpful for better cosmetic results and less musculoskeletal injury.
Keywords: Heart septal defects; Minimally invasive cardiac surgery; Totally endoscopic approach; da VinciTM surgical robot system.