Calgary surgeon performs minimally invasive heart surgery as it was still beating

A cardiac surgeon at the Foothills Medical Centre performed a procedure on a patient that typically would have required the patient's chest to be opened up, using only a small incision while the patient's heart continued beating.

Dr. Daniel Holloway performed the minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) on 40-year-old Chris Kennedy in January.

During the procedure, Holloway grafted a blood vessel to create a new pathway for blood to flow around Kennedy's blocked artery.

This was done with a small incision made between the ribs.

"Being a relatively young and relatively healthy guy, if I can help progress medicine forward so that other people have the opportunity to do this, it's for everybody's benefit, which is I think pretty cool," said Kennedy.

Typical bypass surgery is traditionally much more invasive, with the patient's bones in the chest split open, and a heart and lung machine used to sustain the patient's life.

"(With MIDCAB), instead of going through the middle, through the breastbone, we are able to go in between the ribs. And we are using a small retractor and spread the ribs through a small incision on the side," said Holloway.

Kennedy, who learned of the blockage in his heart months before the surgery, is applauding the efforts of his surgical team.

"I was back to work eight days after surgery, not just because I had to, just because I was bored," said Kennedy.

He is the second patient in Alberta to have undergone a MIDCAB procedure.

Another 10 such operations have occurred since January.

NEW PROCEDURE

Training for the MIDCAB procedure was offered through the Toronto General Hospital at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre to several Calgary physicians.

"It's a different way to do it that's minimally invasive. We think this is something really beneficial for our patients," said Holloway.

Holloway received training alongside colleague Ganesh Shanmugam and anesthesiologists Dr. Christopher Noss and Dr. Douglas Seal.

The anesthesiologist's training was specialized, as the MIDCAB procedure requires manipulation of blood pressure, heart rate and nerve-block techniques for pain control.

"It's kind of like building a small ship in a bottle but someone is shaking the bottle the whole time," said Noss.

"I've been personally quite impressed with the way all the patients look post. They all look remarkably different than our patients who have a conventional sternotomy."

Alberta Health Services (AHS) says about 900 traditional coronary artery bypass surgeries are performed at the Foothills Medical Centre each year.

In a release, AHS says it hopes more surgeons and anesthesiologists will receive the training to offer the less invasive procedure.