At the heart of robotic surgery, at CHU Cardiological Hospital

“Enter the Unparalleled Patient’s Heart in Open Surgery”. “More precise surgical procedures”. Head of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Professor Louis Labrose Bordeaux University Hospital, Angry about his new assistant, a
Surgical robot The latest generation has been providing its services since last December. It is one of two new robots that Bordeaux University Hospital has just purchased, for 3. 3.4 million.

Exceptionally, 20 minutes The robotic assistant was able to follow up with a heart operation performed at the CHU Cardiological Hospital, Hot-Levic site.
Pesach. That’s one
Mitral valve repair, Which is located in the atrium and left ventricle in a patient in his 50s.

Just like in the cockpit of an airplane

If the robot does not, this intervention is necessary Sternotomies, Opening in the rib cage. There, a simple incision of three centimeters is sufficient to slide the mini-camera and the devices connected to the robot’s four arms are controlled from the console. “The operation is a little more than a sternotomy, four hours instead of three, because there are a series of small gestures that require more time, and we need to communicate with the three of us,” Professor Louis Labrouse explained. The head of the cardiac surgery department oversees two surgeons during the operation, one at the controls behind the console and the other at the patient level. At maximum concentration, three conversions, confirm each gesture made. Just like in the cockpit of an airplane.

Jean-Luc Johnson, a cardiac surgeon in Brussels who specializes in robotic surgery since 2001, controls the surgical instruments placed on the four arms of the robot from his console. “Like in a video game,” he joked. “We were first connected with the eyes inside the heart, thanks to the three-dimensional camera, which provides us with a depth of field that allows us to appreciate the distance of an object or organ relative to the body. The ‘other’. The heart and instruments are magnified ten times to provide accuracy.

“Master of the machine connected to the patient”

“We have two joysticks connected by hand, which can close or open the pliers, cut the wires and zoom in and out of the camera, continuing the Jean-Look Jones sense. To stop the bleeding. Through this console, we have control over the machine that is connected to the patient. “

Mitral valve surgery is a very common operation, but it can be sensitive due to the patient’s heart stopping. “Therefore a heart surgeon needs to stand by the patient, examine the knots that are being made, cut the threads, perform instruments or perform the organs. We can see better. Belgian surgeon. This is really an interrelationship between the two of us.” And anytime, “if we realize there is a problem , We can remove the machine in three seconds and start a classic process again, “said Professor Louis Labrose.

540 ° arm articulation

Surgeons explain that the term “robot” can be misleading compared to what is actually practiced. “He’s a surgical assistant,” Jean-Luc Janssen emphasized. It is only a device that, of course, does not really have an automatic gesture, everything is controlled by the surgeon. What the robot can do on its own is to warn the patient of danger if such or similar gesture accidents cause a collision or problem. “

A luxury assistant, identical. “The purpose of the robot for this technology is to say that thanks to the three-dimensional view of the thorax and the tools that have a 540 accent, that is, the weapons can rotate one and a half times, which humans cannot do,” explained Jean-Look Janssen.

“Patients recover quickly between two and three”

More than a surgeon, the benefits of a robot are most impressive to the patient. Professor Louis Labrosse explains, “It’s the least invasive surgery. Sternotomy results in a longer recovery time after surgery and more severe chronic pain., Where patients usually recover two to three times faster.”

At the University of Bordeaux, Professor Louis Labrouse explains that “15 to 20% of heart surgery interventions can be performed with a robot, and especially with all mitral and tricuspid valve surgeries.” Its service “covers the entire spectrum of cardiac surgery” and performs 1,500 operations each year, making it the largest cardiology service in France.

With the purchase of two new-generation surgical robots, Bordeaux University Hospital has four machines for multi-departmental use: urology, gynecology, digestive / colorectal surgery, cardiac surgery, thoracic surgery and ENT. Unlike AP-HP (Hospitals of Paris), the largest robotic surgery center in France.