Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Technique and Patient Selection Criteria of Right Anterior Mini-Thoracotomy for Minimal Access Aortic Valve Replacement
Published on: March 26, 2018
Robotically-assisted left atrial fibrillation ablation and mitral valve repair through a right mini-thoracotomy
Gil Bolotin1, Alan P Kypson, L Wiley Nifong
1Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858, USA. bolotin@tasmc.health.gov.il
Abstract:
A combined robotic-assisted left atrial ablation and mitral valve repair was done through a 5-cm right anterior mini-thoracotomy. The patient was a 54-year-old man with severe mitral regurgitation and a 10-month history of persistent atrial fibrillation. The patient underwent off-pump, beating heart epicardial peripulmonary vein microwave ablation using the FLEX 10 catheter (AFx Inc, Fremont, CA), followed by supplemental on-pump endocardial lesions. The procedure was done using the da Vinci surgical robot (Intuitive Surgical Inc, Sunnyvale, CA). The mitral valve repair consisted of a No. 38 Cosgrove annuloplasty band implantation (Edwards Life Sciences, LLC, Irvine, CA). The postoperative recovery was uneventful, and the patient maintained normal sinus rhythm.

