Man undergoes heart surgery by the robot he helped build

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - ”I got very sick and you know, basically found out that I had a defective heart valve and probably was there from birth and had to climb to the point where it needed to be operated on,” said Matt Lukasek, a patient and engineering manager at Kato Cable.

Over a year ago, Matt Lukasek needed a type of surgery that is usually performed through an incision in the chest. Yet, he asked for another form of treatment. The Da Vinci, a robotic surgical system.

“We’ll approve of me having robotic assisted surgery. And so I had that surgery performed in June of last year. And the surgery was a success. I was back to work in about two and a half weeks,” said Lukasek.

An engineer at Kato Cable, Lukasek knows all about the robotic unit.

“I was part of the team that back then designed the manufacturing process right here in Mankato to build this medical cable and we knew it was a real surgical robot app application,” added Lukasek.

They worked alongside the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Health System to make medical cables and other technology for this unit.

“When you improve others lives, that’s amazing, but it really hits home when it’s your own life. And it’s like wow, we’re building things and making things that actually made my life better. And so it’s And to have that technology also in our Manufacturing,” said Lukasek.

With his friend and former neighbor, Dr. DeWitt, Lukasek is living proof of what the Da Vinci has to offer.

“Use that as a story to distribute across the region for our employees showing sort of both of those things that a lot of the work that’s being done Innovation involves change. Nobody. Frequently initially like change but changes what’s required for us to be better every day to take better care of our patients every day,” said Dr. Jason DeWitt, a physician at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato.

Mayo Clinic Health system has gone from 40-50 cases of robotic surgery a year to almost 700.

“The joke is always that you say, you know robots perform the surgery but it’s not really that way. It’s essentially just a tool to be used by the surgeon by your surgical team,” said Dr. DeWitt.

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