In a recent morning at Cleveland Clinic, cardiac surgeon Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD, repaired a patients mitral valve and his hands never got near the patients heart. In fact, for much of the procedure, Dr. Mihaljevics hands were firmly at the controls of a robotic system that was able to give him pinpoint control of the tools he needed to see the heart and fix the valve. The surgery was all done through an incision less than an inch long. "The major advantages of robotics are the range of motion and precise control you have working in a very small space," Dr. Mihaljevic says. "Another advantage is that your visualization is almost perfect. You have a sophisticated camera system that gives you a three-dimensional view of the heart, which is very important for a surgeon."
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