Bypass Surgery performed on ‘beating heart’ by new team at RMI

Bypass Surgery performed on ‘beating heart’ by new team at RMI
(15/04/2005)

A second new Cardiac Surgical team at the Rehman Medical Institute performed Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery, commonly known as ‘Bypass Surgery’ through the non conventional technique – with a ‘beating heart’.

In established Coronary Artery Disease the treatment is either done by Coronary Angioplasty (Stenting) or CABG Surgery. This CABG surgery is carried out by two procedures i.e. conventional or the non conventional procedure. The former is performed using a Heart Lung Machine where the heart is stopped to perform the By-pass grafting surgery. This procedure is used worldwide in 75% - 80% of the cases.

“The non conventional procedure involves grafting while the heart is maintaining its own blood pressure and Oxygenation,” says Dr. Niaz Ali, a Cardiac Surgeon who recently returned from the UK to join RMI. This type of procedure is adopted by surgeons worldwide in 20%-25% of the cases. There are advantages and disadvantages in both these procedures.

Similarly the indication and contraindication for each procedure are also well established and therefore it’s the surgical team that decides upon the procedure depending on the patient. The advantages that the non conventional technique has are mainly that it involves a shorter stay in the hospital, there is less blood transfusion and it avoids the heart lung machine complications.

This procedure was carried out by the new cardiac surgical team of RMI led by Surgeon. Niaz Ali; Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, and Prof. Khurshid Alam; Consultant Anaesthetist under the supervision of Senior Consultant Cardiac Surgeon Prof. Muhammad Rehman. Other members of the surgical team included Dr. Amir Muhammad, Dr. Nasir Afridi and Dr.Riaz. The Cardiac Physician of the case was Prof. Sahibzada Waheed.

The patient; 62 year old Mr. Said Habib, was admitted to RMI on 30th March 2005 and operated upon on 31st March 2005. He was awake, talking and taking fluids four hours after the surgery.