Advancing the Evolution of Cardiovascular Treatment

Dr. O.H. Frazier, who recently implanted the AbioCor artificial heart device, is also the national principal co-investigator of a Food and Drug Administration-approved study to test an Intuitive Surgical Robot for a variety of applications in cardiovascular treatment.

"We are pleased to be the first in the city to study what may provide important advances in treatment. Just one of the efforts in the study is to assess the benefit in coronary artery bypass procedures," said Dr. Frazier, chief of cardiopulmonary transplantation and director of surgical research at the Texas Heart Institute and chief of transplant service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital. "We are one of five sites in the United States involved with this study, which will involve 250 patients across the country. It’s part of our mission to study these innovations, particularly in regard to the demand for less invasive procedures and the potential benefit for improving patient care."

The robotic system consists of a surgeon’s console, a patient-side cart, a high-performance vision system, and instruments. The system translates the surgeon’s natural hand and wrist movements on instrument controls at a console into corresponding micro-movements of instruments positioned inside the patient through small puncture incisions, or ports.

"In this effort, through a variety of research means, we’re seeking clinical insight to the technology. We’re studying this tool for all aspects of possible applications, beginning with the coronary bypass. Ultimately, we’re looking at the technology for the potential of closed-chest bypass procedures," Dr. Frazier said.

World-renowned cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Denton A. Cooley founded the Texas Heart Institute in 1962 for the study and treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Together with the Institute’s clinical partner, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, it has been ranked among the nation’s top ten heart centers in an annual survey published by U.S. News & World Report for the past 11 years.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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