Houston Hospital Makes History With Nation's First Fully Robotic Heart Transplant On Patient Who Said 'Do What You've Got To Do To Save Me'

A Houston hospital has performed the U.S.'s first fully robotic heart transplant, offering new hope for patients with advanced heart failure.

What Happened: On March 15, surgeons at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston successfully performed a fully robotic heart transplant on Tony Rosales Ibarra, a 45-year-old man from Lufkin, Texas.

Suffering from end-stage heart failure, Rosales Ibarra agreed to the innovative procedure in hopes of improving his recovery and saving his life.

"I told the doctors, ‘Do what you've got to do to save me. No restrictions. I want to live,'" he told the Houston Chronicle.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Kenneth Liao led the operation, which avoided the traditional method of cutting through the breastbone.

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Instead, the team used a surgical robot to make a five-inch incision above the patient's belly button and completed the transplant through the abdomen, reducing recovery time and risk of complications.

"If we can stay away from the breastbone, that's a huge advantage," said Dr Liao, the report added.

Rosales Ibarra, who spent months hospitalized before the transplant, was discharged in April and is now recovering well at home.

Why It's Important: While robotic tools have been used in cardiac surgery before, this is the first time a full heart transplant was completed robotically in the country, said the company in a press release.

Earlier this year, Elon Musk predicted that robots will surpass average human surgeons within a few years and the best ones within five. Citing Neuralink's experience, he noted that inserting brain-computer interface electrodes requires robotic precision beyond human capability.

Neuralink's R1 robot, now used in human trials, inserts 64 ultra-thin threads into the brain in 15 minutes with micron-level accuracy.

Previously, Bill Gates has also shared his belief that robots with highly skilled "hands" will soon become a common presence in hospitals. He expressed confidence that his children and grandchildren will grow up in a dramatically transformed world.

Photo Courtesy: Dmitry Markov152 on Shutterstock.com

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.