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 Pioneering Non-Surgical Bypass Surgery 

 
 
(NEW YORK) 

Until now, bypass surgeries involved a lot of risk to the patient, prolonged stay in the hospital, gradual recovery and an overall change in lifestyle after the surgery. 

The May issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association describes an ingenious non-surgical coronary artery bypass procedure. The technique, called percutaneous in situ coronary venous arterialization (PICVA), uses an ultra-sound catheter that advances a needle through an artery wall and into an adjacent vein. It creates a channel into a nearby vein and redirects blood around the block in the artery. The technique will offer a quicker recovery time to patients as compared to the traditional method of bypass surgery. 

The operation was successfully carried out on a 53 -year-old German and he has been complaint free for the past 12 months now. Traditional bypass or balloon angioplasty was contraindicated in him as he suffered from severe chest pain due to total blockage of the coronary artery. 

Further studies are needed to determine the durability of PICVA and to establish the effectiveness and safety of the procedure before it can replace the conventional angioplasty or bypass surgery.