[Current applications of robotic heart surgery].

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the article is to describe the history, development and current state of robotic heart surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Robotic heart surgery is a new technology which has recorded dramatic growth in recent years. This is because of the effort to develop, in all fields of surgery, new and minimally invasive methods and to reduce surgical stress.

METHOD: Overview of the relevant literature dealing with the history and development of robotic surgery, with a focus on heart surgery.

RESULTS: The number of centres using a robot in clinical practice is growing fast. After a slow start, heart surgery is now the fastest growing field of robotic technology. It has been proven already that almost all heart surgeries can be performed with the use of a robot. Most of surgery fields have already introduced robots in current use. None of them, however, has yet advanced to a 100% robotic coverage of the whole range of interventions. Therefore it is a good strategy today to build multi-specialised operating theatres with robots that could be used for different fields of surgery.

CONCLUSION: Even though robotic surgery is in its beginnings today, its great potential is quite apparent. Only the years to come will show the efficiency, safety, and the cost benefit of robotic technology as compared with traditional methods.