Minimal interventions emerge
Minimally invasive surgery as an alternative to open heart surgery.
EVERY scar tells a story. Very often they are about the ordinary but bloody detours we journey through life.
Sometimes they are about the stark tales of a life-threatening situation, such as heart surgery that leaves patients with a 30cm long scar across the chest.
According to UiTM Private Specialist Centre (UPSC) senior surgeon Professor Dr Mohd Zamrin Bin Dimon, an open heart surgery requires a patient’s chest bone to be cut open in order for the surgeon to be able to reach the patient’s heart.
“Once the heart is exposed, the patient is connected to a heart-lung bypass machine. The machine takes over the heart’s pumping action and moves blood away from the heart.
“This allows the surgeon to operate on a heart that is not beating and does not have blood flowing through it,” he added.
Prof Zamrin, who has been elected as an active member of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgeons, said that heart surgery methods have gradually evolved today for the benefit of patients with a heart condition.
Smaller scars are now possible provided a patient has good heart function, good prognosis based on his overall pre-surgery assessment, and has the most suitable anatomical shape of the heart.
“The minimally invasive method does not require the rib cage to be cut open.
“Instead, the surgeon would make small cuts between the side of the ribs to perform the surgery, and with newer methods of surgery, a heart-lung bypass machine may not be required,” he said, adding that the heart patients who have undergone the minimally invasive method were able to walk the day following the procedure.
Compared to open heart surgery, which requires hospitalisation time of up to two weeks, and a recovery time of up to two months, the newer minimally invasive methods allow patients to be discharged much faster.
Patients can quickly get back to daily activities after a short period of recovery.
Other benefits of the minimally invasive heart surgery, according to Prof Zamrin, are lesser chances of infection due to the less invasive nature of the surgery, and less pain experienced by the patient.
However, not every heart patient makes a suitable minimally invasive surgery candidate.
“Every type of surgery comes with a risk. During the pre-surgery assessment, all the risks involved will be taken into account.
“An open heart surgery may still be recommended if the risk involved is high or if the patient’s condition shows poor heart function and is anatomically unsuitable,” Prof Zamrin said.
“Minimally invasive heart surgeries are becoming a common procedure and we want the public to be aware of this method,” added Prof Zamrin.
This article is courtesy of UiTM.