n a US first, surgeons at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston successfully performed a fully robotic heart transplant, replacing a failing heart without opening the chest or cutting the breastbone, using robotic tools to operate through small incisions.

The procedure reduced surgical trauma, blood loss, and infection risk, marking a major advance in transplant surgery by preserving the chest wall and enabling faster recovery, improved lung function, and lower chances of organ rejection.

The 45-year-old patient was discharged a month after the March operation without complications, with doctors calling the milestone a transformative moment.