JEDDAH: An American doctor will perform robotic heart surgery at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah, officials said Tuesday at a press conference. Dr. Husam Balkhy, Director of the Center for Minimally Invasive Cardiac and Robotic Surgery at The Wisconsin Heart Hospital, which is located in Wauwatosa, Wis., is visiting the city to perform seven robotic surgeries in five days. Dr. Balkhy, a pioneer in developing the surgery, said, “I want to cooperate with King Faisal Hospital to introduce robotic surgery in the Kingdom, where it is still unusual, because it is new and expensive.” Dr. Balkhy, a leader in off-pump coronary bypass surgery, which does not use a heart-lung machine, said the robotic technique comes with a number of benefits. “Patients avoid the painful open surgery,” he said. “Only small holes are needed for the robotic surgery and the recovery is very fast. Patients stay at the hospital only two days and they need only two weeks before they return to their normal lives. In the traditional surgery, patients stay at the hospital for seven days and they need four months before they can live naturally.” According to Dr. Balkhy, the robot is very expensive and extensive training is required to use it; each one costs $1.8 million. The cost and the skill required to operate the robot are such that only 20 percent of surgeons in the United States are using it, he noted. Heart disease is very common in the Kingdom, more so than in the United States, according to Dr. Balkhy, because of the spread of many diseases, which can affect young people. “Rheumatic heart disease affects many people here and it causes problems with heart valves,” he said. “In the United States, problems with heart valves mostly affect elderly people. Diabetes, which is very common in Saudi Arabia, can also cause serious heart problems.” Prevention is the best way to avoid heart disease because early detection helps people overcome it very quickly, he said.
