BACKGROUND: Between three million and five million people in the United States live with a condition known as mitral valve prolapse (MVP). According to the Mayo Clinic, MVP occurs when the valve between your heart's left upper chamber (the left atrium) and the left lower chamber (the left ventricle) doesn't close properly. Men and women seem to develop the condition in similar numbers. In the vast majority of cases, MVP is harmless and doesn't require treatment or lifestyle changes, nor does it shorten your life expectancy. However, in some patients, the disease progresses to require a mitral valve repair or replacement.

TRADITIONAL MITRAL VALVE SURGERY: Traditionally, mitral valve repair or replacement surgery requires an open heart procedure, resulting in weeks or even months of recovery time. Patients must usually stay in the hospital for four days to a week after surgery. After their release, patients may experience swelling along the incision site, difficulty sleeping, muscle pain and even stroke, seizure or coma. Many of these usually disappear over the course of four to six weeks. When patients are ready, physicians may place them in a physician-supervised strength building cardiac rehabilitation program.

A NEW APPROACH: On Aug. 14, 2007, at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, surgeons used the daVinci robot to successfully repair the mitral valve of a 62-year-old man using a technique known as the "American Correction." The precise movements and tiny instruments of the robot allow the surgery to be minimally invasive, allowing for a faster, less painful recovery, according to surgeon Gerald Lawrie, M.D. Dr. Lawrie controlled the daVinvi robot during the operation. The ergonomic design allowed the surgeon to operate in a seated position with eyes and hands in line with the instruments. A tiny camera attached to one of the robotic arms gave the doctor a 3-D, 10-times magnified view of the operating field, giving him a view of tissue and organs his human eyes could never see.

Four small incisions along the right side of the chest allow the robot to slip its instruments into the chest cavity. "The main benefits are that they just have these little quarter-to one-half-inch incisions -- three or four little nicks -- in their right armpit," Dr. Lawrie said. "For women, it's wonderful cosmetically because you can't tell they've had surgery. For men, it's a very small set of incisions."

With the help of the tiny camera, the entire surgery is performed inside the closed chest. This leaves the patient with less scarring, fewer wound complications and gets him or her back to normal activity within a week of surgery, said Dr. Lawrie. The procedure takes longer to perform than the traditional, human-run surgery, but he said the difference is small. The traditional surgery lasts 70 to 80 minutes; the robot procedure lasts 120 to 130 minutes. Dr. Lawrie said this surgery technique is the wave of the future. "For mitral valve, this [technique] is going to take over the majority of the patients as more surgeons get trained in it," he said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
The Methodist Hospital
Patient Information Line
(713) 790-3311
http://geraldlawriemd.com