DETROIT (WWJ) - A new robotic heart procedure has been performed at Beaumont Hospital-Troy for the first time in Michigan. It was used to treat a 66-year-old woman from Huntington Woods this past week with atrial fibrillation. The disorder can lead to an irregular heartbeat. 

One of those performing the robotic maze procedure was Beaumont cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Phillip Robinson.

“What this allows us to do is to now take on more complicated patients with afib because there are different types and it  gives us hopefully,  a better outcome for those that we do operate on.”

Robinson says the procedure is used to restore a normal heart rhythm and is an alternative to open heart surgery.  He says three million Americans suffer from atrial fibrillation, which causes a risk of stroke.

Patients are candidates for a maze procedure if their irreglar heartbeat cannot be treated with medication or other non-surgical approaches.