Summary: Surgeons in the United States performed the first fully mechanical heart transplant without opening the chest using cutting-edge mechanical equipment. The neck wall was preserved while making accurate incisions and allowing access to the heart through the preperitoneal area.
Benefits of the mechanical strategy include faster recovery, lessening the risk of infection, and blood loss, which are essential for transplant recipients taking immunosuppressants. The client, 45, made no complications and was discharged a fortnight afterwards.
Important Information
- Minimally Invasive: Robotic procedure eliminated the need to break the clavicle or opened the stomach.
- Recovery Time: Keeping the stomach wall preserved decreased the risk of infection and improved accessibility and respiratory function.
- Reduced Plasma Loss: avoiding bone cuts reduced transfusions and defensive issues.
Origin: Baylor College of Medicine
The first heart transplant performed in the United States was properly performed by Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center’s surgeons on an adult person.
The team’s head surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Liao, and his team used a clinical robot to make small, precise incisions, avoiding having to open the chest and break the breastbone. The new center was implanted through preperitoneal room, avoiding neck surgery, after Liao removed the damaged heart.
According to Liao, doctor and professor of cardiology transplantation and cardiovascular support at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of cardiothoracic transplantation and electrical circulatory support at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, “opening the chest and spreading the breastbone may affect wound healing, delay rehabilitation, and improve the patient’s recovery,”
” With the mechanical view, we preserve the integrity of the chest wall, which helps with beginning flexibility, respiratory performance, and overall healing,” says the company.
The therapeutic advantages of mechanical heart transplant procedure include reducing the need for blood transfusions and reducing the risk of developing antibodies against the implanted heart, in addition to lessening the clinical trauma.
The 45-year-old person had been in the hospital since November 2024 and had been receiving developed heart failure and needed a number of mechanical devices to help him maintain his brain function prior to the transplant surgery. He underwent a soul graft in March of 2025, and he spent a fortnight in the hospital before being discharged house, without any problems.
” Being the house of this health breakthrough in mechanical heart transplant strengthens Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center as a global leader in the field of medical attention,” said Dr. Bradley T. Lembcke, medical leader.
” This pinnacle in heart transplantation brings great pride to our hospital and strengthens its legacy of health accomplishments and care for the most complex health situations that simply advanced healthcare systems may safely treat”
This transplant demonstrates what is possible when new technology and surgical expertise work together to enhance patient care. Our goal is to provide patients with the safest, most efficient, and least invasive procedures, and robotic technology makes it possible, Liao said, in unique ways.
Dr. Todd Rosengart, the chair of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor, said,” This robotic heart transplantation represents a remarkable, giant step forward in making even the most complex surgery safer.
About this research in robotics surgery
Author: Taylor Barnes
Source: Baylor College of Medicine
Contact: Taylor Barnes – Baylor College of Medicine
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News