Article synopses: Daniel Bethencourt, MD of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center helped achieve the 2002 Excellence in Health Care award. Named as a true advocate of quality and an outstanding physician.

Physicians and allied professionals came from all over the country to attend this high tech conference focusing on the latest in Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery at The Methodist Institute for Technology, Innovation & Education (MITIE).

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Long Beach Calif., --03-27-12 - Inside a surgery room at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Cardiac and thoracic surgeon Daniel M. Bethencourt M.D. before performing his 500th heart surgery, using a robotic surgical machine called the da Vinci Surgical System. Stephen Carr/ Staff Photographer

Dr. Bethencourt performed his 500th robotic heart surgery using the da Vinci^® Surgical System. The da Vinci^® Surgical System provides surgeons and patients with what may be the most effective, least invasive treatment option for even the most complex cardiothoracic procedures.

“Most surgeries do not involve cracking the chest cavity,” Bethencourt said of the benefits of operating with the robot-assisted method, which he has been using since 2006. Now, repairs – requiring only small incisions from the patient’s right side to repair the valve – require less surgery.

Long Beach Calif., --03-27-12 - Inside a surgery room at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Cardiac and thoracic surgeon Daniel M. Bethencourt M.D. performs his 500th heart surgery, using a robotic surgical machine called the da Vinci Surgical System. Stephen Carr/ Staff Photographer

The robotic surgical system allows the surgeons to use a less-invasive procedure, which decreases trauma to the patient’s body. That means less recovery time is needed. A two- to four-day hospitalization might be needed instead of a 10- to 17-day postoperative hospital stay.

Content reference: Original article at Press-Telegram.com

“The robotic procedure allows surgeons to avoid splitting bone, as in conventional open-heart surgery, and instead makes two or three small incisions, no more than two inches each, to operate on the heart, Bethencourt said.”

In addition to avoiding the pain and trauma of sternotomy (cracking open the breastbone to access the heart) and rib spreading, da Vinci Mitral Valve Repair may provide patients with the following benefits over open surgery:

• Less risk of infection
• Less blood loss and need for blood transfusions
• Shorter hospital stay
• Significantly less pain and scarring
• Faster recovery
• Quicker return to normal activities
• And a potentially better clinical outcome

for more information, visit our page on da Vinci Mitral Valve Repair

da Vinci® Coronary Revascularization

da Vinci Surgery is performed minimally invasively through small incisions made between the ribs. This avoids the need for a sternotomy, its associated risks and complications.

If you have been told you need bypass artery surgery also known as coronary revascularization, ask your doctor about da Vinci ^®Surgery to treat CAD.

There are several other potential benefits of da Vinci Surgery over traditional open heart surgery, including:

• Shorter hospital stay
• Less pain and scarring
• Less risk of infection
• Less blood loss and need for blood transfusions
• Faster recovery
• Quicker return to normal activities

Get more information about minimally invasive CAD surgery.