Cleveland Clinic Offers New Robotic Heart Surgery Option

Transcervical robotic aortic valve replacement surgery avoids major chest incisions and painful recoveries.

Published on Mar. 10, 2026

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Cleveland Clinic has introduced a new robotic heart surgery option called transcervical robotic aortic valve replacement. This procedure allows surgeons to replace a patient's aortic valve without making major incisions in the chest wall, resulting in a quicker and less painful recovery compared to traditional open-heart surgery.

Why it matters

Aortic valve disease can lead to serious complications like heart failure and stroke if left untreated. The new robotic surgery provides a less invasive option for patients who require aortic valve replacement, potentially making the procedure more accessible and appealing to those who may have avoided open-heart surgery in the past.

The details

The transcervical robotic aortic valve replacement surgery is performed through a small incision in the patient's neck, with additional tiny incisions on the chest wall. The robot allows the surgeon to precisely remove the old valve and implant the new one without having to cut through the ribs or sternum. This results in significantly less pain and a faster recovery time for patients compared to traditional open-heart surgery.

  • Cleveland Clinic began offering the new robotic heart surgery procedure in 2025.

The players

Marijan Koprivanac, MD

A staff physician at Cleveland Clinic who performs the transcervical robotic aortic valve replacement surgery.

Cleveland Clinic

A renowned academic medical center in Cleveland, Ohio that is currently the only facility offering the new robotic heart surgery procedure.

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What they’re saying

“This is the first open heart surgery that we do that does not require any major incisions on a chest wall. And it basically only involves an incision on the lower neck with some small, less than a centimeter incisions on a chest wall that are pretty much healable on its own.”

— Marijan Koprivanac, MD, Staff Physician, Cleveland Clinic (Ivanhoe Newswire)

“Technically, as I tell all of my patients, they can go next day or not next day, next week back to normal activity and just go back to normal life.”

— Marijan Koprivanac, MD, Staff Physician, Cleveland Clinic (Ivanhoe Newswire)

What’s next

Cleveland Clinic hopes the new transcervical robotic aortic valve replacement surgery will become the new standard of care for aortic valve replacement procedures in the future.

The takeaway

The innovative robotic heart surgery technique developed at Cleveland Clinic provides a less invasive option for patients requiring aortic valve replacement, potentially making the procedure more accessible and improving recovery times compared to traditional open-heart surgery.