UH offering robotic-assisted heart bypass surgery [Video]

CLEVELAND — When one thinks of heart bypass surgery — a long chest scar, months of recovery, pain and often fear come to mind.   

Since December, about 55 patients have received a new, robotic approach to heart bypass surgery at University Hospitals (UH). 

Dr. Kelsey Gray and Dr. Pablo Ruda Vega, are currently the only surgeons in Ohio performing this specific type of procedure using the da Vinci surgical robot. This robot assists surgeons in performing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) through a minimally invasive approach which leaves patients with less pain and a shorter recovery after surgery. 

“Instead of open heart surgery and the big chest incision, we go through three small incisions. You get two incisions that are about a centimeter and then one incision that’s about 4 to 5cm, and they’re all in …