It might be time to bid goodbye to the time-consuming, complicated and risky open heart bypass surgery as a technique published in the journal of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery (ISMICS) ensures up to 99.5 per cent success rate without the cutting of the sternum or any post-op difficulties. Indian cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Pradeep Nambiar introduced a keyhole heart bypass, with only a single two-inch incision on the left breast using multiple arterial grafting, thus, helping the patient recoup in only three days.
The technique was first applied in June 2011 and after a total of 149 surgeries ISMICS validated it as a recommended procedure that saves resources, doesn’t cause infection, increases longevity and helps the patient get back to normal life in not more than 10 days. They also named it The Nambiar Technique, the patent of which is still awaited.
While the two-inch incision is the main beneficial factor in this technique, a lot of emphasis actually lies in the grafting procedure. “In this technique instead of using the leg veins, which are usually used in bypass surgery, we use the mammary arteries. leg veins only last for a maximum of 10 years after which they get blocked, whereas mammary arteries can last for at least 30-35 years and are not prone to any disease. This means that the patient doesn’t need to come back for another bypass surgery after six-seven years. Thus, while the surgery doesn’t cut open the sternum leading to early recovery, it also the gives the patient’s heart longevity and lifetime sustenance,” said Nambiar, who is the chairman of Moolchand Hospital and a cardiothoracic surgeon at Max Hospital.
Though Nambiar is the only one practicing the technique in India at the moment, doctors are under training for the same procedure. However, people first need to get accustomed to single and multiple arterial grafting before doing the procedure with only a two-inch incision. A total of 400 such surgeries have been conducted so far while open heart arterial grafting has been adopted by most hospitals.