Health News and Scoops

Open heart surgery is the royal procedure; just saying it out loud sounds terrifying yet incredibly exciting. Ever since it was pioneered medical students have held their breath hoping for the opportunity to gaze into an open chest and view the most sacred of organs, the heart. Those who unfortunately have to undergo the procedure face the fear of their heart being exposed to the air, and the months of recovery that follow.

Surgery is a traumatic experience for the body. It is often forgotten that during surgery, your skin is cut with a scalpel, your inner fascia is cut away, and muscles are cut and moved out of the way. Opening up a chest is no gently matter, especially when you have seen how much swelling is caused by other, far more simple procedures. As you might expect, the body has to be able to tolerate the damage that will ensue, and the injury of the surgery must be more beneficial than the illness. For many Americans, open heart surgery is not an option because their body cannot tolerate the surgery, and they have no other options for treating valve disease.

This week at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York, the 100^th heart valve replacement was performed, without using the open-heart method. The surgeons have been conducting a clinical trial involving the replacement of a diseased heart valve using a catheter approach. The specialized valve is created from cow pericardial tissue (the pericardium is the membrane surrounding the heart). This tissue piece is then sewn onto a metal casing, and brought to the heart through the femoral artery or by directly placing it into the left ventricle after a small incision near the heart. The valve is then placed in the correct position, while the heart continues to beat. No bypass operation is necessary. The catheter procedure takes approximately an hour and a half, whereas open heart surgery can take up to six hours to complete. Overall, the surgery takes less time, calls for a better and shorter recovery period, and does not require stopping the heart (always a good thing). This is a remarkable achievement, and may likely be the future of valve replacement surgery.

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