Robotic cardiac surgery: current status and future directions

Since robotic cardiac surgery was first described nearly 2 decades ago, technological advance along with a growing demand for less invasive procedures have given way to increased development and adoption of robot-assisted cardiac surgery. Coronary revascularization is now being performed with varying degrees of robotic assistance. Robot-assisted single vessel and hybrid coronary artery revascularization is gaining popularity, and multivessel totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass surgery is being performed safely in select highly specialized centers. Intracardiac robot-assisted surgery has also become an attractive alternative to midline sternotomy and thoracoscopic approaches for mitral and tricuspid valve disease, atrial septal defect repair, and intracardiac tumors. This review will describe the current state of robotic cardiac surgery and offer some insight into future advancement.