CHENNAI: The Frontier Life Hospital is organising a two-day workshop and live demonstration on minimally invasive sternum sparing direct coronary bypass surgery (MIDCAB) using arterial grafts.
Till recently, a bypass surgery was conducted by cutting through the breast bone or sternum. However, this new procedure would be conducted by just making a surgical incision to the chest (thoractomy) on a beating heart.
"Earlier, we had to cut open the chest which quite obviously creates a lot of pain to the patient, but this new procedure only involves a small 4 cm incision on the left of the chest, causing less pain and also reducing recovery time," said Dr K M Cherian, director of the hospital.
"There are two arteries that run on either side of the breast bone known as mammary arteries, both of which are harvested through the small left thoracotomy" he explained.
Besides causing less pain since no bones have been cut, the MIDCAB procedure also reduces recovery time because patients would be able to start walking and become active soon, since the cut is so small.
"This procedure is beneficial for young patients as the patency rates of arterial grafts is more than 90 per cent over 20 years and since the wound is small, there is also lesser chances of infections," Cherian added.
Since recovery time is shorter, the patient does not have to incur large hospital bills, since the stay in the hospital is also reduced. "This new procedure also has cosmetic benefits since the incision is only 4 inches and it would be impossible to even tell that a heart operation has been done," he claimed.
