No abstract

Patients who require left ventricular assist device (LVAD) placement frequently either have had previous cardiac surgery or will require future sternotomy. As a result, approaches to avoid sternotomies have been explored. Our group has had success with robotic-assisted left mini anterior thoracotomy placement of LVADs. This approach has the advantage of allowing the graft to lie in an anatomic location while avoiding the morbidity associated with a redo median sternotomy. Here we describe our technique, which can be easily adopted by those with experience in roboticassisted thoracic procedures as well as with LVAD placement through a hemisternotomy and anterior thoracotomy.