Now heart surgery sans heart-lung machine

PUNE, May 24: In a bid to circumvent the arduous process of using the heart-lung machine during coronary artery bypass surgeries, Poona Medical Foundation’s Ruby Hall Clinic has acquired `Octopus’ a device which locally stabilises the artery to be grafted.

Speaking to media persons here today, Dr. Ramesh Seshadri, director of cardiac surgery at Ruby Hall Clinic explained that it is a normal practice to operate a patient for by-pass by transferring the patient’s heart function to the heart-lung machine and then operating on a still heart.However this procedure could be avoided by operating without the use of the heart-lung machine with the help of new technology, namely `MICAS’ (Minimally Invasive Coronary Artery Surgery), he explained to the media persons.

MICAS, even before it is attempted, requires enormous experience of routine bypass surgery, Dr. Seshadri said, adding that although it is technically demanding if done properly, can be gratifying both to the patient and the surgeon besides being cost-effective.

The new device locally stabilises the artery to be grafted thus making the job of the surgeons a lot easier, especially since the use of the heart-lung machine includes a whole lot of extraneous material which may have side-effects on the body.

Top