Abstract
I appreciate Murphy and colleagues’ letter to the editor,1Murphy D.A. Miller J.S. Langford D.A. Snyder A.B. Letter to the editor. 2007; 133: 1119-1120Google Scholar discussing the differences in our robotic surgical methods.2Chitwood W.R. Our destination and our destiny: real endoscopic cardiac surgery.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2006; 132: 753Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar, 3Murphy D.A. Miller J.S. Langford D.A. Snyder A.B. Endoscopic robotic mitral valve surgery.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2006; 132: 776-781Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (103) Google Scholar To be sure, both his group and ours have attained excellent results with robotic mitral valve repairs. He is correct in that we use different sites for working-port and camera incisions, and this difference definitely facilitates hand-tying of intracardiac sutures by the patient-side surgeon. Nevertheless, we are traveling toward a totally endoscopic mitral operation, and the necessity for patient-side intracardiac assistance to perform the operation requires 2 experienced surgeons. Thus, if we are to become asymptotic to “real endoscopic cardiac mitral surgery,” experienced surgeons, such as Dr Murphy, must strive to achieve repairs using all robotic techniques, which would lessen the need for an experienced patient-side surgeon. Are these points moot or are they important? When good surgeons disagree, each becomes more circumspect and these dialogs help us advance our specialty—“our destiny.” To this end, I appreciate and respect both Dr Murphy and colleagues’ letter and opinions. Endoscopic Robotic Mitral Valve SurgeryThe Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular SurgeryVol. 133Issue 4PreviewWe appreciate Dr Chitwood’s insightful editorial1 concerning our report on endoscopic robotic mitral valve surgery.2 We disagree, however, with his opinion concerning the capability of the patient-side assistant in robotic mitral valve surgery. Chitwood states the “ideal robotic mitral” should be performed completely robotically from the operative console because “a port incision less than 4 cm does not facilitate extracorporeal knot tying or other cardiac manipulations.” In our clinical experience we have not found this observation to be true. Full-Text PDF
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