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New Heart Bypass Technique Means Faster Recovery

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Nov 24, 2008 4:49 pm US/Eastern

New Heart Bypass Technique Means Faster Recovery

Reporting
Dr. Maria Simbra
(KDKA) Anyone who has had heart bypass surgery will tell you the hardest part of the recovery is healing the bones broken to access the heart.

However, a new surgical technique may one day mean these patients are up and about in days instead of weeks.

When Chuck Hoette toured Alaska, it wasn't just the view that took his breath away.

"I had trouble like taking three or four steps, and losing my breath," he says.

Tests revealed Chuck had three blocked heart arteries.

But he 'bypassed' traditional surgery in favor of something called "TECAB" offered at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

"TECAB or totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass, which is done completely in a closed chest manner," explains cardiac surgeon Dr. Sudhir Srivastava.

A few small incisions in the torso provide access for robotically-guided instruments.

"These tips of these instruments, they have human wrist-like motion and so as the surgeon moves the hand, that motion is exactly transmitted," said Dr. Sudhir Srivastava. 

The surgery is done on a beating heart.

And for long-lasting success, a chest artery is used instead of leg veins.

"About 85 percent of them are open at the end of fifteen to twenty years, and many of them, of course, much longer," said Dr. Srivastava.

The most dramatic difference is recovery time.

Open heart patients require months of rest and rehab, while TECAB patients are back in action in a week.

"The recovery is practically immediate. Patients go home just with some Tylenol for pain," said Dr. Valluvan Jeevanandam. 

It's something Chuck feels pretty good about, too.

"I was very pleasantly surprised at how quickly the recovery has been from this procedure," he said. 


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