Robotic Surgery & Breast Implants: What Should Women Know?
Written By: Allison DeMajistre, BSN, RN, CCRN
Medical Expert: Tom Nguyen, MD, Director of Minimally Invasive Valve Surgery and Chief Medical Executive, Baptist Health Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute, Miami, Florida
Reviewed By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: May 13, 2025
Robotic heart valve surgery offers patients several advantages, including less pain, shorter recovery times, and minimal scarring compared to the traditional median sternotomy approach. Although many patients may be candidates for robotic surgery, we often receive questions from women with breast implants about the differences in how surgeons may approach their heart.
For example, Sarah recently asked us, “Hi Adam, I have decided to have my mitral valve repaired robotically because of your videos. Is it true that I will need to have my breast implants removed prior to surgery?” We were thrilled to have Dr. Tom Nguyen, a specialist in robotic surgery, join us in answering Sarah’s question. Dr. Nguyen is the Director of Minimally Invasive Valve Surgery and Chief Medical Executive of Baptist Health Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute in Miami, Florida.
About Breast Implants and Robotic Surgery
Here are key insights shared by Dr. Nguyen:
- Go to a cardiac center that can do the surgery in various ways. Dr. Nguyen said, “Thank you, Sarah, for that fantastic question. I think the most important question to ask is if you’re going to have your surgery done, go to a place that can do the surgery in a lot of different ways. Robotic is one way, minimally invasive is another, and the standard sternotomy is another way.”
- There is unique planning and a strategy for robotic surgery with breast implants. “Let me describe the logistics of robotic surgery,” said Dr. Nguyen. He explained that in order to perform the robotic surgery, it requires putting a port at or very close to the breast implant to hold the camera or retractor in place to allow surgeons to see the heart. “Because your implant is there, oftentimes we will have to remove the implant, do the surgery and put it back in, which is not the end of the world by any means.
- Using a minimally-invasive versus robotic approach. Dr. Nguyen said another option he often uses for patients with breast implants is a minimally invasive approach. “With the minimally invasive approach, we could sneak on the side, right around the implant and avoid it altogether. We don’t have to take the breast implant out, and we can sneak right behind it and hide the incision right where your mammary fold is. So, to answer your question, for robotic surgery, most likely, we’ll have to remove the implant. It’s not the end of the world. We could put it back and close it up, and it should look normal. Oftentimes, we can get our plastic surgeons involved as we all work as a team to make sure it looks as perfect as possible. The other option is to do it the traditional way, with small incisions on the side.” Dr. Nguyen added, “But most importantly, go to a center that does a lot of robotic and minimally invasive surgery and is really comfortable with this disease pathology to give you the best outcomes possible.”
Thanks Dr. Nguyen and Baptist Health!
On behalf of Sarah and all the patients in our community, thank you, Dr. Tom Nguyen, for everything you and your team are doing at Baptist Health in Miami, Florida!
Related links:
- Baptist Health South Florida Joins Our Community
- Meet The Chief: Dr. Tom Nguyen, Leads Miami and Vascular Cardiac Institute
- Cayman Islands Man Back at Work Weeks After Heart Surgery in Miami
Keep on tickin,
Adam
P.S. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our patient community, we have provided a written transcript of our interview with Dr. Nguyen below.
Written by Adam Pick
- Patient & Website Founder
Video Transcript:
Adam Pick: Hi everybody, it’s Adam with HeartValveSurgery.com and we’re in Los Angeles, California at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons conference. I am thrilled to be joined by Dr. Tom Nguyen, who is the Director of Minimally Invasive Valve Surgery and Chief Medical Executive of Baptist Health Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute in Miami, Florida.
Dr. Nguyen, it is great to see you again. We’ve known each other for a long time. Thanks for being with me at STS.
Dr. Tom Nguyen: Pleasure. Thanks Adam.
Adam Pick: Dr. Nguyen, we are getting lots of patient questions from people all over the world. This question came in specific to your specialty in minimally invasive and robotics. This comes in from Sarah. She asks, “Hi Adam, I have decided to have my mitral valve repair robotically because of your videos. Is it true that I will need to have my breast implants removed prior to surgery?”
Dr. Tom Nguyen: Thank you Sarah for that fantastic question. I think the most important question to really ask is if you’re going to have your surgery done, go to a place that can do the surgery in a lot of different ways.
Robotic is one way, minimally invasive is another way, and the standard sternotomy is another way.
Let me describe the logistics of robotic surgery. Usually, women’s breasts are here and the implants are here. Unfortunately, when you do robotics, usually there’s a requirement to do a port right here, just to hold the camera or the retractor to look at the heart.
Because of that, your implant is there. So oftentimes, you will have to remove the implant. And then do the surgery and put it back in, which is not the end of the world by any means. Another option, something that we do a lot of, you can imagine there are a lot of patients with breast implants, uh, is we can use a minimally invasive approach where we could sneak on the side, right around the implant and avoid it altogether.
So, we don’t have to take the breast implant out and we can sneak right behind it and hide the incision right where the incision – where your mammary fold is. That’s another option as well. So, to answer your question… For robotic surgery, most likely we’ll have to remove the implant. It’s not the end of the world. We could put it back, close it up, and it should look normal.
Oftentimes, we can get our plastic surgeons involved as we all work as a team, to make sure it looks as perfect as possible. The other option is to do it the traditional way on small incisions on the side.
But, most important, is to go to a center that does a lot of robotic surgery, does a lot of minimally invasive surgery, is really comfortable with this disease pathology to give you the best outcomes possible.
Adam Pick: Sarah, I hope that helped you. I know it helped me. Dr. Nguyen, as always, thank you for everything you and your team are doing at Baptist Health South Florida in Miami, Florida. Thanks for being with me today.
Dr. Tom Nguyen: Thank you.
