First heart surgery performed in Ukraine with the help of Da Vinci robot (PHOTOS)
31 January 2024 08:19
A unique event took place at St Panteleimon’s Medical Centre in Lviv: the cardiology team used the Da Vinci robotic system to perform heart surgery on 44-year-old Serhiy Sharikov from Volyn, who was in a state close to a heart attack. This was reported by the 
with reference to the press service of the Lviv Medical Association.
This case was the first in the history of Ukraine to use a robot for heart surgery.
Sergei Sharikov suffered from acute chest pain and shortness of breath, which made it difficult for him to do even minor physical activities such as climbing stairs or carrying shopping.
“I couldn’t even help my wife with heavy bags – it was too hard,”
– says the patient.
Doctors diagnosed him with coronary heart disease, in which one of the main arteries was narrowed by 80%, creating a high risk of heart attack. The need for immediate surgery was obvious.
The head of the Heart and Vascular Centre, Roman Domashych, and his team of cardiac surgeons decided to use the Da Vinci robot for Sergiy’s surgery, which they had been preparing for almost a year, training in clinics in the US and Europe.
“This method of intervention has a number of advantages: small punctures instead of large incisions, precision and quick rehabilitation. Despite this, no one in Ukraine has ever performed heart surgery using a robotic surgeon. Our specialists decided to become pioneers and spent almost a year preparing for such an intervention. For this purpose, they underwent training at leading clinics in the US and Europe,”
– the doctors say.
During the operation, four small punctures were made to restore normal blood supply to the heart. The operation lasted three hours, and four days later Sergiy returned home without any complications.
