Outcomes for robotic vs nonrobotic cardiac surgery

Editor's Note

Robotic-assisted cardiac surgery had significantly reduced length of stay, complications, and mortality compared with nonrobotic surgery in this study. Robotic-assisted had a higher median cost than nonrobotic surgery ($39,030 vs $36,340).

The results show that robotic-assisted is as safe as nonrobotic cardiac surgery and offers surgeons an additional technique, the authors say.

Importance As robotic-assisted cardiac surgical procedures increase nationwide, surgeons need to be educated on the safety of the new modality compared with that of open technique. Objective To compare complications, length of stay (LOS), actual cost, and mortality between nonrobotic and robotic-assisted cardiac surgical procedures.