{"id":7681,"date":"2012-02-04T09:05:27","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T14:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=7681"},"modified":"2019-02-26T20:04:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T01:04:20","slug":"robotic-mitral-valve-repair-experience-steven-bolling-md","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2012\/02\/04\/robotic-mitral-valve-repair-experience-steven-bolling-md\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Should I Go With The Robot For My Mitral Valve Repair?&#8221; Asks Doug"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Doug sent me a great question about his options for mitral valve repair surgery. In his email, Doug wrote, &#8220;I have severe mitral regurgitation and I need surgery. \u00a0I\u2019m considering two surgeons&#8230;\u00a0 One surgeon uses the robot and the other surgeon does not.\u00a0 Which is a better choice for me?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To provide Doug an expert opinion, I met with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Steven-Bolling-Ann+Arbor-Michigan.php\">Dr. Steven Bolling<\/a>, the Director of the Mitral Valve Program at the University of Michigan. During our discussion, Dr. Bolling, who has performed over 3,800 mitral valve operations, offered great insight and research for Doug to consider. Here are the video highlights from our chat.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/InyminFmK-4\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>Thanks to Doug for his question <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> a special thanks to Dr. Steven Bolling for sharing his clinical expertise with our community.<\/p>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the patients and caregivers in our community who are hearing impaired, I have provided a written transcript of this interview below.<\/p>\n<p>Adam: Hi everybody, it\u2019s Adam and we are at the Heart Valve Summit in Chicago, Illinois.\u00a0 We\u2019re answering your questions that were posted at HeartValveBlog.com.\u00a0 I&#8217;m fortunate to be next to Dr. Steven Bolling, who is the director of the Mitral Valve Clinic at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. We have a question that comes in from Doug, Dr. Bolling, he writes, &#8220;I have severe mitral regurgitation and I need surgery. \u00a0I\u2019m considering two surgeons:\u00a0 one uses the robot and one does not.\u00a0 Which is a better choice for me?\u201d (To learn more about mitral regurgitation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-symptoms-leaking.php\">click here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Doctor Bolling: \u201cSo Adam, first of all, thanks for having me here today.\u00a0 Doug, the question of the robot, as soon as we hear the word robot, we think cool, sexy, science fiction, space age, so the better question is, not so much the robot, or whether you are having it done through the front or the side or a big incision or a little incision; it\u2019s what the experience of your surgeon, because, Doug, your long term survival will be dependent on having a great repair so you want to get that surgeon who has done the most, who\u2019s done the most experience.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in the United States right now the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2011\/10\/11\/average-yearly-mitral-valve-repair-surgery\/\">average number of isolated mitral procedures per surgeon is only 5 <\/a>and the average number of robot procedures, per surgeon, is only 3.\u00a0 That\u2019s sort of like betting on someone to win the Masters who has only practiced golf three times a year, maybe not a great bet.\u00a0 So you want to go to the most experienced surgeon.\u00a0 You know it\u2019s not amazing, the more you do something the better off you are on it.\u00a0 It makes such a difference on someone\u2019s outcome whether they have a repair or a replacement.\u00a0 Now if that surgeon can do it equally well with the robot or without the robot, fine that\u2019s sort of dealers choice, but you want to be having your repair with the guy with the best, most experienced hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adam: \u201cAnd a follow-up question Dr. Bolling&#8230; I\u2019m a patient, I come to a surgeon.\u00a0 They tell me they have done a certain amount but I don\u2019t know anything about what the outcomes are.\u00a0 How do you as a patient, what do you suggest to patients to get the information that enables them to say, the experience is here, the outcomes are here, I\u2019m going with this surgeon for this procedure?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steve Bolling, MD: \u201cThose are the exact questions to ask, for you Adam, and for every patient out there. What is your experience and it is very surgeon specific, it\u2019s not just a hospital or a center.\u00a0 What is your outcome, and with my problem, and my mitral valve, what is your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-repair-surgery.php\">mitral valve repair<\/a> rate and you have to expect the surgeon to be honest.\u00a0 Some of it is published.\u00a0 There is a lot of very good things on the internet.\u00a0 But I think to establish that relationship between you as a patient and your surgeon, ask them very honestly, what is your experience with this very particular lesion that I, as a patient, have?\u00a0 What is your success at repairing this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adam: \u201cSo ask those questions, even if they are difficult?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Bolling: \u201cI think that\u2019s very important.\u00a0 Ask the difficult questions, directly to your surgeon.\u00a0 And if that surgeon is very experienced, he will have the data to tell you those exact numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adam: \u201cGreat. Well Dr. Bolling, as always thanks for all of your help. Keep up the great work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mitral-valve-repair"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}