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Tuesday, 16 April 2024

Sunday, 23 July 2006 09:33

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Ground-breaking keyhole surgery

A Scottish cardiac surgeon Ciro Campanella is offering heart patients who go under the knife each year keyhole surgery.

The consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary is planning a revolutionary heart bypass operation that will allow patients to leave hospital just one day after undergoing surgery.

Patients who need major heart surgery normally have to endure traumatic operations, during which the chest is cut open and the ribs separated to allow doctors to reach their heart. It takes weeks for them to recover.

But Campanella is using endoscopic implements that are inserted through a tiny incision in the patient's chest.

He claims the small hole needed to reach the heart can heal and allow patients to get back on their feet faster than in the traditional operation. He is aiming to begin carrying out "short-stay" procedures by the autumn.

It will be the first time patients who have had major heart surgery can leave after just a few hours in hospital, and is expected to revolutionise heart surgery. The risk of infection will also be dramatically reduced, while waiting times will be cut, freeing up beds for other patients.

"We are looking at this for selected patients," said Campanella. "There needs to be some fine tuning before we can definitely say we can do the surgery endoscopically and have the patients going away the following day.

"Unless you try to push forward, there will be no progress in terms of helping patients.

"The bottom line is that the disruption of the normal anatomy of the body is very minimal”.