Robotic Mitral Valve Repair Using the LEAR Technique, Filmed by the BBC

This video shows one of the first totally endoscopic mitral valve repairs using the lateral endoscopic approach with robotics (LEAR) technique performed in the UK, and it follows a patient’s remarkable recovery from this procedure.

It has been known for many years now in a variety of surgical specialties that as the degree of surgical trauma is minimized, patients gain an incremental benefit in speed of recovery. This can be measured in a variety of ways, such as a reduction in pain or shorter hospital stays. Cardiac surgery is no different from this, but the cardiac surgical community has been slow to adopt these techniques, particularly in the UK. The least invasive form of surgical mitral valve repair is a totally endoscopic port-based approach, as developed by Dr Doug Murphy in Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA. This approach uses four 8 mm ports for the da Vinci Surgical System’s arms, as well as a 20 mm flexible access port for the bedside assistant. The console surgeon and the bedside assistant then work in synchrony to perform the valve repair.

This video is a great resource for both patients and surgeons alike. It documents, in the eyes of a BBC film crew, a patient’s journey from preoperative preparation through the operative procedure to his remarkable recovery and discharge home 48 hours after surgery.

Additional Resources

Murphy DA, Moss E, Binongo J, et al. The expanding role of endoscopic robotics in mitral valve surgery: 1,257 consecutive procedures. Ann Thorac Surg. 2015;100(5):1675-1681.

View the full BBC footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CeljvyyA0Y&t=5s

View the video of the patient talking about his experience of robotic heart surgery several weeks postoperatively here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm9LajJJe3g&feature=youtu.be