In a first for Hungary, doctors at the Budapest Cardiology Institute invited members of the press to attend open-heart surgery.
The procedure was performed by Jenő Szolnoky, deputy medical director of the institute and his assistants. The 77-year-old male patient had a faulty heart valve which – instead of being replaced – was repaired through a minimally invasive endoscopic surgery.
According to Rmx.news, this means that instead of the traditional procedure of sawing through the sternum and opening the chest cavity, the surgery is performed through a 5 cm opening and the surgeon sees the area operated on through an endoscope.
While this procedure requires special skills – which the institute also teaches – it significantly speeds up recovery, with patients usually released from the hospital within six days and back to their normal lives in about three weeks. The traditional procedure required months of rehabilitation.
Additionally, compared to the previous ratio of 90 percent, only 10 percent of heart valves are actually replaced, with the remaining 90 percent being repaired, usually through a combination of reshaping the valves and adding artificial sinew when required.
Photo credit: MTI