{"id":5375,"date":"2025-04-01T23:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T23:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=5375"},"modified":"2025-05-15T14:01:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T14:01:42","slug":"robotic-surgery-breast-implants","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/robotic-surgery-breast-implants\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotic Surgery &#038; Breast Implants: What Should Women Know?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Sarah recently asked us, \u201cHi 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?\u201d We were thrilled to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Tom-Nguyen-Miami-Florida.php\">Dr. Tom Nguyen<\/a>, a specialist in robotic surgery, join us in answering Sarah\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/upSos_N2eXw?rel=0?si=JASDnxPDFz-RfA1U\" 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><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><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<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>About Breast Implants and Robotic Surgery<\/h2>\n<p>Here are key insights shared by Dr. Nguyen:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Go to a cardiac center that can do the surgery in various ways. Dr. Nguyen said, \u201cThank you, Sarah, for that fantastic question. I think the most important question to ask is if you\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>There is unique planning and a strategy for robotic surgery with breast implants. \u201cLet me describe the logistics of robotic surgery,\u201d 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. \u201cBecause 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.<\/li>\n<li>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. \u201cWith the minimally invasive approach, we could sneak on the side, right around the implant and avoid it altogether. We don\u2019t 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\u2019ll have to remove the implant. It\u2019s 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.\u201d Dr. Nguyen added, \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5377 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/robotic-surgery-breast-implants.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Nguyen's Key Points About Robotic Surgery &amp; Breast Implants\" width=\"650\" height=\"362\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks Dr. Nguyen and Baptist Health South Florida!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of Sarah and all the patients in our community, thank you, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Tom-Nguyen-Miami-Florida.php\">Dr. Tom Nguyen<\/a>, for everything you and your team are doing at Baptist Health in Miami, Florida!<\/p>\n<p>Related links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2025\/01\/15\/baptist-health\/\">Baptist Health South Florida Joins Our Community<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Qa_wSGgJs44?si=MCdZmSEwGTM3Yf7o\">Meet The Chief: Dr. Tom Nguyen, Leads Miami and Vascular Cardiac Institute<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/0WQ3_lPvniA?si=oowgBmuNBxRu9Isp\">Cayman Islands Man Back at Work Weeks After Heart Surgery in Miami<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin,<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"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-5375","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\/5375","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5375"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5774,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5375\/revisions\/5774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}