FDA Approves less invasive heart surgery

17 Jun 2002

Surgeons have begun performing a revolutionary method of minimally invasive heart surgery designed to make patients' recovery easier and reduce costs. Following recent FDA approval, surgeons at six medical centers across the U.S. started performing the new technique called Port-Access for single-graft coronary artery bypasses and heart valve replacement and repair.

Instead of splitting open the breast bone, surgeons operate endoscopically through several small incisions in the chest wall. The method is designed to reduce trauma, complications and pain, resulting in shorter hospital stays, quicker recovery times and less cost, says Scott Stuart, M.D., an associate professor of cardiac surgery who leads the training program in the new method at John Hopkins Medical Center. Patients should be able to return to work within two to three weeks, rather than the two to three months required for standard bypass, says Stuart.

Other centers in the clinical training program are Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University in St. Louis, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, New York University in New York City and Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.