Robotic Cardiohoracic Surgery

Our goal is to discuss the development and evolution of robotic surgery, review current robotic systems, review the current data, discuss the current role of robotics in cardiac and thoracic surgery, provide an objective evaluation of this technology to touch on some of the subjects that manufacturers of robots do not readily disclose. And finally we discuss the possible roles of robotic surgery in the future. It is our hope that by the end of this Essay the reader will be able to make a more informed decision about robotic surgery.