• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.423-429
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• 2008

Background: The interest in robotic cardiac surgery has recently grown but there has not been much clinical research reported on this. The aim of this study is to examine our initial experience, since August 2007, with robotic cardiac surgery using the da $Vince^{TM}$ surgical system and to evaluate the feasibility and safety of it. Material and Method: Between August and December 2007, a total of 20 patients underwent robotic cardiac surgery using the da Vinci surgical system. For mitral valve repair (n=11), tricuspid valve repair (n=1), and ASD repair (n=1), cannulation, antegrade cardioplegia and transthoracic aortic cross-clamping were conducted for the right femoral vessels and the right internal jugular vein. For minimally invasive direct CABG (MIDCAB) (n=7), the internal thoracic artery (ITA) was harvested with the da Vinci surgical system. Result: The mean age of the patients was 50.1 (range: $26{\sim}78$) years. Three concomitant Maze procedures and one tricuspid annuloplasty were combined with mitral valve repair. The mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was $208.0{\pm}61.3$ minutes and the aortic cross clamp time was $158.8{\pm}40.6$ minutes. No patients showed more than mild mitral regurgitation after repair and the median hospital stay was 4 days. The robotic-harvested ITA was used for either left ITA (n=6) or bilateral ITA (n=1). The mean harvest time was $43.2{\pm}12.0$ minutes. The harvested ITA showed good flow and it was anastomosed under direct vision after left anterolateral thoracotomy. The patency of all the grafts was 100% (18/18) in MIDCAB. Conclusion: Robotic cardiac surgery using the da Vinci surgical system was variously adapted to areas such as mitral and tricuspid valve repair, ASD repair and ITA harvest for MIDCAB. The early results of the robotic cardiac surgery showed its safety and feasibility. With this primary report, we anticipate that clinical applications and further studies on robotic cardiac surgery using the da Vinci surgical system will be actively conducted in Korea.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.827-832
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• 2004

Background: The significance of MIDCAB is emerging topics recently as OPCAB is going to be universalized, and long-term outcome of bypass graft surgery was proved to be more excellent than balloon dilation or stent insertion. We report our MIDCAB results in 73 patients in the last three years. Material and Method: Retrospective analysis of medical records was done from November 1, 2000 through November 31, 2003. There were 47 males and 26 females ranging in age from 31 years to 79 years (average $61.3\pm9.8$ years). Observation periods after operative procedures were 10 to 1238 days (average $763\pm319.8$ days). Left longitudinal parasternal incision as a standard procedure was done to approach the heart after dissection of the left internal thoracic artery by partial or total resection of 3rd to 5th ribs. Result: Of those patients, 46 patients were transferred to ICU after extubation at operation room and 58 patients were extubated within 3 hours after operation. Average ICU staying periods was $26.8\pm11.5$ hours. Follow-up angiography during admission was done in 36 patients and showed 100% patency. Only one patient died on the 10$^{th}$ post operative day because of sudden CVA. Complications included wound problems in 4 patients, and constructing pericardial window using thoracoscopy due to continuous pericardial effusion in 1. Permanent pacemaker was inserted in one patient owing to sick sinus syndrome. In one patient with recurrence of angina 8 months after operation, stenosis at anastomic site was found and improved with balloon dilatation. Conclusion: We were satisfied with our results of MIDCAB in single and multi-vessel coronary artery disease. These results have made the cardiologists tried to operate positively and we expect widening operative indications including hybrid revascularization.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.330-332
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• 1999

A 40-year-old woman underwent plication by video-assisted thoracoscopy for left diaphragmatic eventration. Normalization in the position of the left diaphragm and a marked improvement in the left lung expansion were identified on the chest X-ray. This technique offers the patients many advantages of the minimally invasive operation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.377-380
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• 2008

Abdominal aortic aneurysm has traditionally been treated by open repair. Aortic endovascular stent grafting has recently been introduced as a new modality. We report here on three cases of endovascular stent grafting that were performed by cardiovascular surgeons for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm in the high risk patients with multiple comorbidities such as old age, hypertension, renal failure, cerebrovascular accident and immobility.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2013

In this work, 4-DOF ER haptic master is proposed and integrated with a slave robot for minimally invasive surgery(MIS). Using a controllable ER fluid, the haptic master can generate a repulsive force/torque with the 4-DOF motion. For realization of master-slave robot system, the motion command of the haptic master is realized by slave surgery robot. In order to follow the 4-DOF motion of the haptic master, novel mechanism of slave surgery robot with gimbal joint is devised. Accordingly, the haptic master-slave robot system is established by incorporating the slave robot with the haptic master device in which the desired repulsive force/torque and position are transferred to each other via wireless communications. In order to obtain the desired force/torque and position trajectories, tracking controllers for haptic master and slave robot are designed and implemented, respectively. It has been demonstrated that the desired effective torque tracking control performance is well achieved using the proposed haptic master-slave robot system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2012.10a
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• pp.421-427
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• 2012

In this work, 4 DOF ER haptic master is proposed and integrated with a slave robot for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Using a controllable ER fluid, the haptic master can generate a repulsive force/torque with the 4-DOF motion. For realization of master-slave robot system, the motion command of the haptic master is realized by slave surgery robot. In order to follow the 4 DOF motion of the haptic master, novel mechanism of slave surgery robot with gimbal joint is devised. Accordingly, the haptic master-slave robot system is established by incorporating the slave robot with the haptic master device in which the desired repulsive force/torque and position are transferred to each other via wireless communications. In order to obtain the desired force/torque and position trajectories, tracking controllers for haptic master and slave robot are designed and implemented, respectively. It has been demonstrated that the desired effective torque tracking control performance is well achieved using the proposed haptic master-slave robot system.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.557-561
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• 2010

In the treatment of myasthenia gravis, thymectomy is generally accepted as the standard of therapy. For thymectomy, there have been various conventional open approaches including sternal splitting, but recently minimally invasive approaches have been increasingly applied. A 28-year-old man presenting with weakness of both hands and fatigability was diagnosed as having myasthenia gravis with thymic hyperplasia. He underwent a robot-assisted thymectomy with the 'da Vinci' surgical system. Through the right thoracic cavity, two thirds of the thymic gland was dissected, and the remainder was resected through the left; these procedures took, respectively, 1 hour and 30 minutes. The patient was discharged on the 8th postoperative day without complications. The minimally invasive approach with the 'da Vinci' surgical system is emerging as a popular choice and various advantages have been reported. Here we report the first successful case of robot-assisted thymectomy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.472-476
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• 2001

Background: Minimally invasive surgery of pectus excavatum by Dr. Nuss is a new technique that allows the repair of this deformity without any cartilage resection or sternal osteotomy We describe the early experiences with Nuss procedure. Material and Method: From December 1999 to January 2001, twenty patients with pectus excavatum underwent repair by Nuss procedure There were 14 males and 6 females whose mean age was 10.1$\pm$7.7 years, ranging from 1 to 33 years. Most patients(N=19) were below 20 years, except 33 years old female patient(N=1). Result: The severity of depression was assessed by computed topography(CT). CT index was mean 4.9$\pm$5.7(ranged from 3.3 to 8). The average operating time was 85.8$\pm$23.7 minutes. The used metal bars were ranged in length from 8 inches to 16 inches(average 11.8$\pm$14.4 inches). Early postoperative complications were pneumothorax in three patients, paralytic ileus in one, and postoperative chest pain requiring analgesics in all patients. Epidural analgesia was used in one adult patient for control of postoperative pain. In our experiences, there were no serious complications posteoperatively. Conclusion: There were good early results with the Nuss procedure that we performed for repairing of pectus excavatum. However, we believe the procedure needs to be observed for the long term results for it to be broadly accepted.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.568-572
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• 2008

Background: Minimally invasive surgery is currently popular, but this has been applied very sparingly to cardiac surgery because of some limitations. Our study evaluated the safety and efficacy of atrial septal defect (ASD) closure through a video-assisted mini-thoracotomy. Material and Method: Fifteen patients were analyzed. Their mean age was $31{\pm}6$ years. The mean ASD size was $24{\pm}5mm$ and there were 3 cases of significant tricuspid regurgitation. The working window was made through the right 4th intercostal space via a $4{\sim}5cm$ inframammary skin incision, CPB was conducted with performing peripheral cannulation. After cardioplegic arrest, the ASDs were closed with a patch (n=11) or direct sutures (n=4), and the procedures were assisted by using a thoracoscope. There were 3 cases of tricuspid repair and 1 case of mitral valve repair. The mean CPB time and aortic occlusion time were $160{\pm}47\;and\;70{\pm}26 $minutes, respectively. Result: There was no mortality, but there were 3 minor complications (one pneumothorax, one wound dehiscence and one arrhythmia). The mean hospital stay was $5.9{\pm}1.8$ days. The mean follow-up duration was $10.7{\pm}6.4$ months. The follow-up echocardiogram noted no residual ASD or significant tricuspid regurgitation. Three patients suffered from pain or numbness. Conclusion: This study showed satisfactory clinical and cosmetic results. Although the operative time is still too long, more experience and specialized equipment would make this technique a good option for treating ASD.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.284-290
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• 2012

In this research, a new type of haptic master device using electrorheological(ER) fluid for minimally invasive surgery(MIS) is devised and control performance of the proposed haptic master is evaluated. The proposed haptic master consists of ER bi-directional clutch/brake for 2 DOF rotational motion(X, Y) using gimbal structure and ER brake on the gripper for 1 DOF rotational motion (Z). Using Bingham characteristic of ER fluid and geometrical constraints, principal design variables of the haptic master are determined. Then, the generation of torque of the proposed master is experimentally evaluated as a function of applied field of voltage. A sliding mode controller which is robust to uncertainties is then designed and empirically realized. It has been demonstrated via experiment that the proposed haptic master associated with the controller can be effectively applied to MIS in real field conditions.