{"id":1468,"date":"2021-09-09T14:55:13","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T14:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=1468"},"modified":"2025-07-16T19:51:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T19:51:18","slug":"robotic-mitral-valve-repair-surgery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/robotic-mitral-valve-repair-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotic Mitral Valve Repair Surgery: What Should Patients Know?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Patient interest in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/robotic-mitral-valve-surgery\">robotic mitral valve repair surgery<\/a> continues to increase.<\/p>\n<p>Now, more than ever, I&#8217;m getting patient questions about robot-assisted therapies and the surgeons that focus on this super-specialized approach to mitral valve repair. For example, I&#8217;m just getting off the phone with Elaine from Georgia.\u00a0 She asked me, &#8220;Adam, I have mitral regurgitation. I want a repair not a replacement. What do you think about surgery using the robot?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to provide Elaine an expert response to this very important question. For that reason, I just interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Joanna-Chikwe-Los+Angeles-California.php\">Dr. Joanna Chikwe<\/a>, Chair of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. So you know, Dr. Chikwe has dedicated her career to the treatment of valvular disease using minimally-invasive techniques. At HeartValveSurgery.com, Dr. Chikwe has successfully performed robotic mitral valve repair surgery on many patients in our community including Wendy Spector, Steve Rudack and Mark Kimball.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sNBglVf8oio\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings About Robotic Mitral Valve Repair<\/h2>\n<p>Here are key learnings from Dr. Chikwe\u2019s interview about robotic mitral valve repair surgery:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>During her 20+ year career, Dr. Chikwe has performed thousands of cardiac procedures of which most involved some form of heart valve repair or heart valve replacement.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Chikwe decided to specialize in mitral valve repair surgery given the transformative impact on the long-term health of her patients. As Dr. Chikwe states, &#8220;I love mitral valve surgery because it\u2019s transformative. The procedure gives me the chance to restore a patient\u2019s normal life expectancy. There\u2019s almost nothing else we do in heart surgery that does that. Second, mitral valve repair surgery is incredibly creative. No one mitral valve is the same. Everybody needs an individualized repair.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/profileImages\/304_129_188.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Joanna Chikwe\" width=\"129\" height=\"188\" \/>Dr. Joanna Chikwe<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Patients with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-symptoms-leaking.php\">mitral regurgitation<\/a>, a leaky heart valve, may need mitral valve repair surgery.\u00a0 Mitral regurgitation forces the heart to work &#8220;overtime&#8221; to pump blood through the body.\u00a0 Over time, mitral regurgitation can lead to an enlarged and weakened heart.<\/li>\n<li>Patient symptoms related to mitral regurgitation, which is one of the most common forms of heart valve disease, are feeling winded walking up stairs or in bed at night, heart palpitations due to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/atrial-fibrillation\/\">atrial fibrillation<\/a>, chest tightness, and fatigue.\u00a0 However, patients can also be asymptomatic (without symptoms).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1480 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/mitral-regurgitation-chikwe.jpg\" alt=\"Mitral Valve Regurgitation\" width=\"650\" height=\"345\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Long-term cardiac damage from mitral regurgitation includes heart failure, stroke and atrial fibrillation.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Chikwe&#8217;s recommended approach for mitral valve repair surgery is tailored to each patient.\u00a0 Dr. Chikwe states, &#8220;If you\u2019re older, frail, and you have other illnesses&#8230; Maybe a minimally-invasive approach &#8211; such as the MitraClip &#8211; is going to be the safest option. For most of the patients I see, mitral valve repair surgery is the right option because that procedure can restore normal life expectancy.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>The advantages of a mitral valve repair surgery include maintaining the natural architecture of the heart, durability (lasts longer) compared to a biological valve replacement, and patients do not need to be on blood thinners like they would if they get a mechanical valve replacement.<\/li>\n<li>While there are many approaches for accessing the heart (sternotomy, port access, mini-thoracotomy, transcatheter), the most important considerations for selecting an approach are safety and quality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1482 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/mitral-valve-repair-before-after2.jpg\" alt=\"Mitral Valve Repair - Before &amp; After\" width=\"650\" height=\"363\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Chikwe prefers the use of a robot for mitral valve repair surgery.\u00a0 The robot enables Dr. Chikwe to access the heart using a small incision through the ribs which helps patients leave the hospital in 3-4\u00a0days and get back to a normal life faster. The robot provides Dr. Chikwe a &#8220;game changing&#8221; three-dimensional view of the heart.\u00a0 The robot facilitates a super-precise surgery using tiny incisions. In addition, Dr. Chikwe&#8217;s entire team can see the procedure in real-time which is a great collaborative and educational tool.<\/li>\n<li>Specific to pain, the goal of Dr. Chikwe&#8217;s team is to provide patients a &#8220;pain-free&#8221; experience after robotic mitral valve repair surgery.\u00a0 Interestingly, Dr. Chikwe uses a local anesthetic to minimize and\/or eliminate patient pain and discomfort after the procedure.<\/li>\n<li>While Dr. Chikwe has always focused on safety and the best possible outcomes for her mitral valve repair patients using minimally-invasive techniques, Dr. Chikwe began using the robot in 2019 when she joined Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Chikwe states, &#8220;It wasn\u2019t until I came to Cedars that I got the opportunity to use the robot with one of the most experienced teams in the country. That\u2019s been completely transformational.\u00a0 Now, I perform about 95% of my mitral valve repairs robotically.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Robotic mitral valve surgery is a &#8220;team sport&#8221; at Cedars-Sinai. There are 8 members of the robotic mitral valve repair surgery team &#8211; 2 surgeons, 2 anesthesiology team members, 2 perfusionists, and 2 nurses.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Chikwe believes a common myth about robotic mitral valve surgery is that it is NOT open-heart surgery. Dr. Chikwe states, &#8220;The number one myth about robotic mitral valve surgery is that it is not open-heart surgery. It is. We are going on a heart-lung machine. We are stopping your heart. We\u2019re going to open it and repair your mitral valve. It\u2019s really safe. It is open-heart surgery.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1483 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/cedars-mitral-valve-repair-outcomes.jpg\" alt=\"Robotic Mitral Valve Repair Outcomes\" width=\"650\" height=\"347\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Patient outcomes for robotic mitral valve repair surgery at Cedars-Sinai are excellent.\u00a0 In a recent study of 1,000 robotic mitral valve repair procedures, the Cedars-Sinai team achieved a 99% repair rate, less than a 0.5% complication rate, and durability is equivalent to any other series.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bZ3cTenT9sY?rel=0?si=kJB1WHReKYu886bC\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Chikwe believes that the future of robotic surgery is bright.\u00a0 She believes that robot-assisted therapies will expand to mitral valve replacement, aortic valve replacement and other cardiac conditions in stand-alone settings including atrial fibrillation (Maze procedure) and coronary artery disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks Dr. Chikwe &amp; Cedars-Sinai!<\/h2>\n<p>Many thanks to Dr. Chikwe for taking the time to educate our patient community about robotic mitral valve repair surgery. We also want to thank the entire Cedars-Sinai team for taking such great care of patients from the HeartValveSurgery.com community!<\/p>\n<p>Related Links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Joanna-Chikwe-Los+Angeles-California.php\">See 75+ Patient Reviews for Dr. Joanna Chikwe<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/mitral-valve-repair-dr-joanna-chikwe\/\">Mitral Valve Repair: Different Approaches for Different Patients with Dr. Chikwe<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/go-red-women-dr-joanna-chikwe\/\">Dr. Chikwe Answers Female Patient Questions About Heart Surgery<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/robotic-mitral-valve-surgery\">Robotic Mitral Valve Repair Patient Education Center<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"class_list":["post-1468","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-mitral-valve-repair"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5922,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1468\/revisions\/5922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}