De-Airing Maneuvers After Minimally Invasive and Robotic-Assisted Intracardiac Procedures

ABSTRACT In the setting of minimally invasive and robotic-assisted intracardiac procedures, de-airing requires further technical considerations due to limited access to the pericardial space and the subsequent difficulty of directly manipulating the heart. We summarize the technical steps for de-airing according to different cannulation strategies for minimally invasive and robotic-assisted intracardiac procedures.

Robotic cardiac surgery in Colombia: overcoming the challenges of a middle-income setting

Abstract In developing countries, limited resources and low health budgets result in slow developments in the field of cardiac surgery. As a consequence, advances in surgery become a challenging process. In Colombia, most institutions do not have the capacity or infrastructure for minimally invasive and video-assisted cardiac surgery, let alone robotic assisted cardiac surgery (RACS). Despite the challenges, efforts to overcome these hurdles are critical for the future of cardiac surgery in low-income settings. Here we describe the first cases of robotic cardiac surgeries performed in Colombia.