Totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass surgery (TECAB) is an entirely

endoscopic An endoscopy is a procedure used in medicine to look inside the body. The endoscopy procedure uses an endoscope to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body. Unlike many other medical imaging techniques, endoscopes are insert ...

robotic surgery Robot-assisted surgery or robotic surgery are any types of surgical procedures that are performed using robotic systems. Robotically assisted surgery was developed to try to overcome the limitations of pre-existing minimally-invasive surgical ...

used to treat

coronary heart disease Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), or ischemic heart disease (IHD), is a type of cardiovascular disease, heart disease involving Ischemia, the reduction of blood flow to the cardiac muscle due to a build-up ...

, developed in the late 1990s. It is an advanced form of

minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass surgery Minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) is a surgical treatment for coronary heart disease that is a less invasive method of coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). MIDCAB gains surgical access to the heart with a smaller incisio ...

, which allows bypass surgery to be conducted off-pump without opening the ribcage. The technique involves three or four small holes in the chest cavity through which two robotic arms, and one camera are inserted.

TECAB technology

TECAB surgery uses the da Vinci tele-robotic stereoscopic 3-D imaging system. The system consists of a robotic "slave" system at the bedside. The robot relays its information to an external surgical control unit, where a cardiac surgeon has a three-dimensional view of the chest cavity, and twin controllers for the robotic arms. The procedure frequently involves

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticulture, horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the roots ...

of the

internal mammary artery The internal thoracic artery (ITA), also known as the internal mammary artery, is an artery that supplies the anterior chest wall and the breasts. It is a paired artery, with one running along each side of the sternum, to continue after its bifurc ...

to the diseased coronary artery, and therefore does not require external harvesting of blood vessels.

References

{{Cardiac surgery procedures Endoscopy Cardiac surgery