|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By Keith Mulvihill
NEW YORK, Mar 19 (Reuters Health) - A 61-year-old man is the first to receive a new device that could help speed up the time it takes doctors to perform bypass surgery in people with heart disease, researchers report.
Dr. Friedrich S. Eckstein, a cardiovascular surgeon at University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues operated on the patient and report "the first successful use of this device in a human being," in a paper released before its publication date in the March 24th issue of The Lancet.
The team used a sutureless mechanical device developed by the St. Jude Medical Anastomotic Technology Group in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The stainless-steel device allows for the joining of the blocked coronary artery with a vein taken from another part of the body used in the bypass procedure.
What ordinarily can take up to 10 to 15 minutes to close with stitches would take much less time with this device, according to Dr. Timothy J. Gardner, a spokesperson for the American Heart Association and a heart surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
The new "device attaches the vein to the artery directly in one move," Gardner told Reuters Health.
Not only would the device save time for the surgeon, but also the procedure brings patients another step closer to having what is termed "beating heart surgery."
Patients need to be placed on heart and lung machines for bypass surgery so the surgeon can operate on the heart, Gardner noted. Heart-lung machines are used in traditional bypass surgery to circulate blood throughout the body while an individual's heart is stopped.
"Some studies have shown that (the use) of heart and lung machines may cause some neurological injury," Gardner said. Use of the new device may help some patients avoid the need of the heart and lung machine, and thus reduce their risk for memory or other problems after surgery.
"This technology could have a positive impact on coronary-artery bypass surgery, especially now (that) less-invasive approaches are gaining favour," Eckstein and colleagues conclude.
When a vessel that delivers blood to the heart becomes blocked, one option for restoring blood flow to the heart includes bypass surgery. Bypass surgery involves taking veins, and sometimes arteries, from other parts of the body and grafting them onto the coronary artery to bypass the blocked vessel.
Gardner stressed that the new procedure would not be ideal for all coronary bypass patients, however. In order to attach the vein to the artery using the new device, the artery cannot have a lot of blockage because that makes it harder for the attachment to be made.
"In these circumstances traditional bypass surgery with suturing would be optimal," Gardner said.
SOURCE: The Lancet 2001;357:933-934.
| Health Topics | Drug Information | Dictionaries | Directories | Other Resources |
|
U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894
Copyright and Privacy Policy, We welcome your comments. Last updated: 20 March 2001 |