St. John Health, St. John Hospital & Medical Center: Detroit
Cardiac Care
Thursday, April 27, 2006

Media Contact: Brian Taylor, 248-849-2236

The state’s first successful robotic, totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass surgery has been performed at St. John Hospital and Medical Center.  The patient, a 69 year-old man from Grosse Pointe Woods, is recovering at home.

During this unique operation, four tiny pencil sized holes are made between the ribs. Through these holes, surgeons guide two robotic arms equipped with a tiny camera and gain access to the heart, making surgery possible without opening the chest.  Like traditional surgery, a healthy blood vessel from inside the chest wall is removed and grafted onto the heart to bypass the blocked artery.

“This is a major step forward in heart surgery,” says Steven Harrington, M.D., chief of cardiovascular surgery at SJH&MC and the surgeon that performed the procedure. “Because we are able to avoid opening the chest with the typical eight-to-ten-inch incision, this procedure means a quicker recovery, less pain and less scarring than typical open-heart surgeries.” 

There are approximately 375,000 CABG surgeries performed in the United States each year, making it one of the most common operations performed in the country. This particular procedure is performed using Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci™ Surgical System.

St. John Hospital and Medical Center is a member of St. John Health and the St. John Health Heart Care Network, a leading provider of heart care in Michigan. SJH&MC is a nationally recognized leader in cardiovascular care.

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