{"id":6052,"date":"2025-08-06T20:58:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T20:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=6052"},"modified":"2025-08-15T03:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T03:03:51","slug":"criteria-minimally-invasive-techniques-robotic-mitral","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/criteria-minimally-invasive-techniques-robotic-mitral\/","title":{"rendered":"Surgeon Q&#038;A: Patient Criteria for Robotic Mitral Valve Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As surgical techniques advance, minimally-invasive and robotic procedures are now viable options for many patients in need of mitral valve repair. In the past, the only alternative available was open-heart surgery with one long incision to the front of the chest, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/sternum-broken-pain-healing.php\">a sternotomy<\/a>. In contrast, minimally-invasive surgery only requires a few small incisions where surgeons insert small, high-powered cameras, surgical tools, or robotic arms to assist with the valve repair.<\/p>\n<p>Since minimally-invasive techniques offers advantages including faster recovery, lower risk of infection, less pain, and shorter hospital stays, robotic surgery may be a surgeon\u2019s preferred choice when feasible. However, limitations do exist when it comes to patient candidacy, requiring surgeons to evaluate the suitability of each case carefully.<\/p>\n<p>We often receive questions from patients who want to know if they are eligible for minimally-invasive and robotic heart valve surgery. The most recent question comes from John, who asked, \u201cWhat are the criteria for surgeons to use minimally invasive techniques? My wife is very thin. Can the robot be used? Are there other constraints that limit the use of the robot?&#8221; Adam Pick, founder of HeartValveSurgery.com, met with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Kevin-Hodges-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. Kevin Hodges<\/a> to answer John\u2019s question. Dr. Hodges is a leading minimally-invasive cardiac surgeon who specializes in robotic mitral valve repair at the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute in Chicago, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JPpKzojKlFM?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>Patient Eligibility for Minimally-Invasive and Robotic Heart Valve Surgery<\/h2>\n<p>Here are the key insights shared by Dr. Hodges:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Patient safety is the primary criterion. \u201cThat\u2019s a great question,\u201d said Dr. Hodges. \u201cI\u2019ll start broadly and then we can talk about the specifics of John\u2019s wife. We want to offer the most minimally-invasive option while not compromising on the quality and safety of the operation, so that means we put patients through a couple of preoperative tests. Dr. Hodges explained that patients will have a CT scan to check their coronary arteries and an echocardiogram to ensure that anatomically, there is no reason a robotic surgery will be less safe than a conventional approach with a sternotomy. \u201cAs long as a patient meets the criteria in terms of their heart function, valve anatomy, as well as their vascular anatomy, we almost always offer a minimally-invasive or robotic approach.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6055 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/minimally-invasive-critera.png\" alt=\"Minimally-Invasive Criteria\" width=\"650\" height=\"357\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Surgeons can adjust to patient-specific body types. \u201cTo the specific question of a very thin body habitus, we see that situation all the time,\u201d said Dr. Hodges. \u201cIn fact, we had a case like that yesterday. It\u2019s generally no problem.\u201d He explained that surgeons take into consideration specific body types and will make adjustments regarding how they position robotic instruments, but it\u2019s not generally a problem for a robotic approach.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks Dr. Hodges and Northwestern Medicine!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of all the patients in our community, thank you, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Kevin-Hodges-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. Kevin Hodges<\/a>, for everything you and your team are doing at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois!<\/p>\n<p>Related links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/robotic-heart-surgery-conversion\/\">Surgeon Q&amp;A: Robotic Heart Surgery Conversion from Minimally-Invasive to Sternotomy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/videos\/5-warning-signs\">Patient Webinar: 5 Warning Signs You May Need Heart Valve Surgery<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/431LUFx\">Free eBook: 6 Expert Tips for Heart Valve Patients<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin,<\/p>\n<p>Adam<\/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. Hodges 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-6052","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\/6052","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=6052"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6144,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6052\/revisions\/6144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}