|
Date : June 2005
In its third year of operation, Wockhardt Hospitals in Mumbai is creating new vistas in cardiac surgery. Recent on its list of milestones is having performed Western India's first Conscious Off Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery or Awake Heart Surgery as it is more well-known.
 Western India's first awake heart surgery in progress at Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai. |
The surgery is considered to be the most advanced form of performing cardiac surgery in current times. On May 1, Dr. Sandeep Honnekeri, Wockhardt's cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, performed the surgery on the beating heart of a 73-year old patient without general anaesthesia or the use of the heart lung machine and without ventilator support. Dr. Honnekeri was helped by an able team, which included doctors Ajit Vispute and Nilesh Maru.
 Wockhardt doctor's who made it possible ...Dr. Ajit Vispute, Dr. Sandeep Honnekeri & Dr.. Nilesh Maru. |
"The patient had gone through an earlier revascularization, and a recent angiography revealed a two vessel block which required bypass surgery. He was at high risk for general anaesthesia, and his best chance of survival was beating heart bypass surgery without general anaesthesia," recounts Dr. Honnekeri.
"We used the technique of high thoracic epidural analgesia, which is a high precision-based methodology. It involves injection of micro doses of local anaesthetic in the epidural space around the spinal cord, which anaesthetises only the chest region, while the rest of the system is awake. This makes surgery safe for patients who are at high risk for anaesthesia," says Dr. Vispute, cardiac anaesthetist. More patient benefits include reduced post-operative stay in the surgical intensive care unit to less than 12 hours.
Incidentally, Wockhardt was the first to perform this surgery in India. This was performed by Dr. Vivek Jawali at our heart hospital in Bangalore.
|