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When Charles Pugh learned that he needed bypass surgery for two blocked coronary arteries, he approached it as something of a research project; he read everything he could find and visited several hospitals to meet their top surgeons.
“I wanted to find the best in the field and find a less invasive procedure instead of open heart surgery,” said Pugh, who is an adjunct faculty member in the English department at Towson University in Baltimore.
He learned that most hospitals still use open heart surgery to perform a bypass, with a large incision at the sternum to gain access to the heart. Such surgery requires a four- to six-week recovery period.
Then he came to the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he found out that he instead of open heart surgery, he could have a minimally invasive bypass surgery performed with the use of a surgical robot. Pugh says he came to UMMC because it was the only hospital in the Baltimore area that used the da Vinci robot to perform a minimally invasive bypass of the coronary artery.
First he met with Dr. Bartley Griffith [head of cardiac surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center and professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine], who told Pugh he was a good candidate for the procedure. Then he met Dr. Johannes Bonatti, director of coronary surgery and advanced coronary interventions at the University of Maryland Heart Center and a professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Dr. Bonatti explained that in this procedure, known as totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass or TECAB, the surgeon uses a robot to hold slender tools and a video camera, which are inserted through tiny holes. Using the surgical robot, Bonatti would need to make only a few dime-sized holes the width of a dime to perform a bypass of the blocked heart arteries, accomplishing the same thing as conventional bypass surgery – but without the large chest incision. And, with the robotic system, he would be able to see the heart with 3-D detail and manipulate the tools to bypass blocked heart arteries with healthy arteries taken from the chest in a very precise way.
On July 24, 2008, Pugh underwent successful robot-assisted bypass surgery at UMMC. He went home after six days in the hospital, and he began walking again just five days after surgery.
“I had no complications; the surgery was successful,” said Pugh, who also says he was glad he did not have to undergo the traditional bypass procedure with a sternotomy [splitting of the chest]. “The surgery was less invasive, and the scars less noticeable,” he said. Within 16 days Pugh says he was on the right track to recovery.
“I feel much better than before when I walk up the four flights of stairs on campus,” he says. “I was very pleased at the less invasive approach.”
Pugh says he was also pleased by the care he received from the doctors and the staff, and appreciated that Dr. Bonatti even took the time to visit him at the hospital on a weekend.
“Dr. Bonatti and Dr. Griffith were both very personable and articulate. They are at the top of their field. I established a connection with Dr. Griffith. He was personable and convinced me that I could benefit from the procedure,” he said.
“From the minute I awoke from surgery, I was well attended by the hospital staff, and the nurses were very competent. I received very good care.”
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