Times of India
23 July 2011
Kolkata, India

City Hospital Team Skips Conventional Method Of Stopping Heart During Operation
A bypass surgery is conventionally conducted by stopping the heart, but doctors of a city hospital carried out such an operation on the beating heart of a 56–year–old patient. Though beating heart surgery, also known as offpump bypass surgery, has gained popularity in the West, it is still rare in India.

In the unconventional beating heart surgery, advanced operating equipment is used instead of a heart–lung machine. The device stabilizes portions of the heart, which keeps pumping and circulating blood to the body while the operation is on. This procedure is known to expedite recovery of the patient.

The surgery was conducted afew weeks ago in Fortis Hospitals on Tarun Chandra Trivedi. The patient was suffering from severe triple–vessel coronary artery disease. The ECG and echocardiogram reports showed recurrent ischemia (restriction of blood supply) and poor heart–pumping. He had also suffered a heart attack a few days before the surgery. Doctors advised him a coronary artery bypass grafting, the best way to save a patient at such a time by re–establishing the flow of blood to the heart.

Cardiac surgeon Ashok Bandhyopadhyay and his team operated upon Trivedi the day he was admitted. The team opted for off–pump coronary artery bypass surgery instead of going through the conventional surgery that uses a heartlung machine and requires stopping of the heart. A beating heart surgery allows a surgeon to re–route flow of blood around a blocked coronary artery without stopping the heart.

“Complications associated with temporary stopping and re–starting the heart and complications arising from blood flowing through (fusion surface) are completely eliminated in a beating heart surgery. This procedure would surpass conventional surgery in future due to its advantages,” said Bandhyopadhyay.

In the conventional surgery, the heart has to be stopped for anything between half and hour to six hours, depending on the complications involved. Artificial tubings, heart and lungs are used in the conventional procedure and, hence, there is the risk of harm to other vital organs due to artificial props.

However, doctors would prefer the conventional surgery in patients with congenital heart ailments like a hole in the heart. For Trivedi, doctors chose the beating heart procedure as the conventional method would have put him to more risk. He was already on clot bursting medication after the heart attack. The conventional procedure could have caused excessive loss of blood. Trivedi showed speedy recovery and was discharged after seven days of the operation.

“I am grateful to the expert team of doctors who have given me a new lease of life. I am doing well now and have resumed my daily activities,” said Trivedi.

Beating Heart Surgery
Beating heart surgery uses advanced operating equipment to stabilize portions of the heart, which keeps pumping and circulating blood to the body while the operation is on
Benefits

• Faster recovery
• Shorter hospitalization
• Less Bleeding & trauma
• Better preservation of heart function
• Reduced risk of neurological injury, including stroke and damage to memory function
• Safer
• Better survival rate, especially among high–risk patients
• Cost of operation comes down by about 30,000