{"id":5476,"date":"2025-04-21T19:42:24","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T19:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=5476"},"modified":"2025-06-26T05:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T05:04:10","slug":"robotic-misconceptions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/robotic-misconceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Surgeon Q&#038;A: Top 3 Misconceptions of Robotic Mitral Valve Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cardiac surgeons have been performing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/robotic-mitral-valve-surgery\">robotic mitral valve surgery<\/a> for over two decades. It is a minimally invasive surgery for mitral valve disease that provides patients with several advantages including less intraoperative blood loss, reduced post-operative pain, shorter hospital stays, a faster return to normal activities, and better cosmetic outcomes with less scarring compared to traditional open-heart surgery with a sternotomy.<\/p>\n<p>Robotic mitral valve surgery has gained popularity over the years. However, patients have questions and misconceptions about this type of surgery. We spoke to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Arnar-Geirsson-New+York-New%20York.php\">Dr. Arnar Geirsson<\/a>, Director of the Surgical Heart Valve Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia Irving Medical Center in New York City, New York, to learn the top three misconceptions about mitral valve surgery. Dr. Geirsson has performed over 500 robotic mitral valve operations during his extraordinary career.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oiW1EYZj600?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><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Top 3 Misconceptions of Robotic Mitral Valve Surgery<\/h2>\n<p>Here are the key insights shared by Dr. Geirsson:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is one of the big misconceptions about robotic mitral valve surgery? Dr. Geirsson said, \u201cOne of the questions I get asked a lot is, \u2018Who is doing the operation?\u2019 or \u2018Is the robot doing the operation?\u2019 In reality, I, the surgeon, do the operation. The robot is just a tool to do the operation less invasively.\u201d He explained that the robot is at the bedside, and he sits at a special console and controls the robot. \u201cThere\u2019s always an assistant who changes out instruments, but I actually do the operation.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5581 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/robotic-surgery-setup-console.jpg\" alt=\"Robotic Surgery Setup and Console\" width=\"700\" height=\"454\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is the second misconception about robotic mitral valve surgery? Dr. Geirsson said that patients often ask if the outcomes of robotic versus sternotomy approaches are the same. \u201cI think the answer is that it\u2019s as safe and as good as a sternotomy.\u201d He explained that the data suggests that robotics provides for a shorter hospital stay, faster recovery, and less pain compared to sternotomy. \u201cRequiring blood transfusions and getting atrial fibrillation after the operation is less frequent with robotics. Other important questions to ask are, \u2018What is the quality of the repair and how easy is it to repair the mitral valve?\u2019 The answer is that it seems to be as good or even sometimes more reliable to repair the valve, although it\u2019s difficult to prove. I think all the data and literature suggest that robotic surgery is as safe and effective as sternotomy or other approaches to the mitral valve.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5482 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/robotic-heart-surgery-outcome-advantages.jpg\" alt=\"Robotic Mitral Valve Surgery Outcome Benefits\" width=\"650\" height=\"362\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is the third misconception about the robot? \u201cA third common question I get is, \u2018Is robotic surgery open-heart surgery?\u2019 And the answer to that is, yes, it is open-heart surgery, but it depends on how you define it. In robotic mitral valve surgery, we use a heart-lung machine, which takes over the function of the heart and lungs. So, in many ways, that qualifies as an open-heart surgery. However, we use small incisions or ports instead of opening the front of the chest. It\u2019s really a minimally invasive cardiac surgery.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5481 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/open-heart-vs-robotic-incision.jpg\" alt=\"Open Heart Versus Robotic Incision\" width=\"650\" height=\"361\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks Dr. Geirsson and NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of all the patients in our community, thank you, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Arnar-Geirsson-New+York-New%20York.php\">Dr. Arnar Geirsson<\/a>, for everything you and your team are doing at New York Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center!<\/p>\n<p>Related links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Arnar-Geirsson-New+York-New%20York.php\">See Dr. Geirsson\u2019s Interactive Surgeon Profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.columbiacardiology.org\/patient-care\/columbia-structural-heart-and-valve-center\">Explore the Columbia Heart Valve Center<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/columbiasurgery.org\/news\/why-robotics-five-questions-heart-surgeon-dr-arnar-geirsson\">Why Robotics? Five Questions with Dr. Arnar Geirsson<\/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. Geirsson 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-5476","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\/5476","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=5476"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5904,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5476\/revisions\/5904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}