Robotic mitral valve repair in Japan and keyhole cardiac surgery in NewHeart Watanabe Institute

Abstract

It has been a long road to the insurance coverage of robotic cardiac surgery in Japan since the application of the first generation of the da Vinci surgical system (da Vinci, Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA). After six years of manufacturer's clinical trials at Kanazawa University (1-4), where we were previously based, and the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, the pharmaceutical affairs department approved the da Vinci S system in