First ever: They just replaced a man’s heart without opening his chest. And they did it using only a robot. At Baylor St. Luke’s, in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, Dr. Kenneth Liao and his team performed the first fully robotic heart transplant on an adult patient in U.S. history.
Published in Artificial Intelligence.
The patient?
A 45-year-old man with end-stage heart failure.
The technique?
The transplant was performed entirely through small, precise incisions in the abdomen, specifically just above the patient’s navel.
Using advanced robotic instruments, the surgical team removed the diseased heart and implanted the donor organ without opening the chest or breaking the breastbone.
The result?
He walked out weeks later.
New heart. No complications. Chest intact.
No cracked sternum.
No rib spreader.
No ICU trauma.
Just human hands guiding robotic intelligence—
and history made in Houston.
This isn’t just innovation.
It’s a rewrite of the surgical playbook.
• Less bleeding
• Less infection
• Less pain
• More dignity in the process of repair
Houston has just redefined what’s possible in the operating room.
And the world should be paying attention.
The robotic system used for the U.S.’s first fully robotic heart transplant at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center is the da Vinci Surgical System, manufactured by Intuitive Surgical. Dr. Kenneth Liao and his team utilized this advanced platform to perform the entire heart transplant via small abdominal incisions, avoiding the traditional sternotomy.
What other surgeries do you believe robotics will revolutionize next?