Francis P. Sutter, DO, FACS

Francis P. Sutter, DO, FACS

I am chief of cardiac surgery at Lankenau Medical Center, a leadership role I have been honored to serve since 2001. My long and rewarding career as a heart surgeon has been and continues to be dedicated to advancing surgical treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). In particular, I specialize in minimally invasive coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery using a surgical robot. My interest in minimally invasive cardiac surgery began as early as 1997, years before Lankenau purchased its first surgical robot. Since 2005, I have performed—with support from a dedicated cardiac surgical team—more than 2300 robotic coronary bypass procedures, with excellent outcomes. This is more than any other surgeon or medical institution in the country. I am proud of this achievement because it means I have helped a lot of people with CAD avoid a difficult surgery and recovery. One reason I have a passion for robotic surgery is that I have treated so many patients using a "traditional" approach to heart surgery. With traditional cardiac bypass surgery, the surgeon must make a 10-inch incision into the chest and cut the breastbone to get to the heart to start the operation. To perform the operation, the surgeon must literally stop the heart and circulate the blood with a heart-lung machine. In contrast, using the robot, I can perform a successful bypass operation through only two tiny holes and one very small incision, while the patient's heart beats normally. Patients recover from the procedure feeling as if almost nothing had happened. I am pleased to offer patients the most advanced techniques available for treating CAD, including: Robotic CABG surgery—a highly sophisticated approach to CABG surgery using tiny incisions Hybrid revascularization (robotic CABG plus stent placement) for multivessel CAD Off-pump ("beating heart") CABG—bypass surgery done while the heart continues to beat normally While most bypass operations in the United States are still performed traditionally, more than 50 percent of all cardiac artery bypass procedures at Lankenau Medical Center over the past 10 years have been performed robotically. While robotic surgery may not always be an option to traditional surgery, at Lankenau, it is the option we try to consider first. It is why I encourage everyone who is told they need open heart surgery to seek a second opinion about less invasive alternatives such as robotic surgery. Finally, I would be remiss not to mention my other passions. I am an avid surfer and rower and, when not in the hospital, can typically be found riding waves at the beach or rowing on the Schuylkill river. I also love the Philadelphia region. I grew up here and am a proud graduate of LaSalle University and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.