In a first for US medicine, a surgeon in Texas has performed a fully robotic heart transplant—replacing a patient's failing heart without opening his chest. The surgery, performed March 15 by cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Kenneth Liao of Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, gave a new heart to 45-year-old Tony Rosales Ibarra of Lufkin, who was suffering from advanced heart failure, per the Houston Chronicle. Unlike traditional heart transplants that require cutting through the breastbone, this procedure used a surgical robot to make a five-inch incision above the patient's belly button.
The robot allowed Dr. Liao to remove Ibarra's heart and implant a donor organ through the preperitoneal space in the abdomen. The method is less invasive, reduces infection risks, and typically results in a faster recovery. Ibarra, who spent four months in the hospital before the procedure due to worsening heart failure, has not experienced complications and was recently cleared to resume driving and exercising.
Liao has performed over 800 robotic heart operations since 2019, but this is the first time a fully robotic technique has been used for a heart transplant in the US. The world's first was in Saudi Arabia last year. Liao and the team selected Ibarra for the procedure due to his anatomy and medical history, including a 2022 stroke that led to his heart failure. Hospital officials say the surgery marks a significant step forward for the field and could signal a shift in how heart transplants are performed nationwide, per a release. Dr. Liao believes the technique may one day become standard practice. Ibarra is simply grateful it worked. "I didn't know I was going to be the first one," he tells the Chronicle. "I'm amazed." (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
