AWAKE OPEN HEART SURGERY - Congenital Heart Disease

April 10, 2004--In this ‘AWAKE HEART SURGERY', epidural special medical injection is given near the spinal cord, which blunt the sensation all over the chest and abdomen and the patient will never experience any sort of pain during the surgery. They will be completely awake, able to talk fluently and also move their legs and hands. It greatly reduces the complications associated with major open-heart surgeries.

Usually Open Heart Surgery needs intubation (putting a tube into the trachea) and connecting it to the artificial breathing machine and the patient will be totally in an unconscious and anaesthetized state for 4 to 6 hours after surgery. During an Open Heart Surgery, the heart and lung will be stopped and will be put on Heart-Lung Machine After the surgery, the patient needs breathing support for a variable period sometimes even 24 hours, and post-operatively, the patient will have severe pain over the operated site necessitating heavy sedation. During this surgery, the patient can have complications, viz. lung and brain related problems and post-operative pain, which hamper them in their faster recovery.

During the Awake Heart Surgery, the patient was put on the operating table, a 10 cm long incision was made on the breastbone and breastbone was cut open with electric saw, heart was exposed, and put on Heart-Lung machine. The heart was stopped and upper chamber (atrium) of the heart opened and the birth defect – large hole – was identified and closed. During the above process, the patient was awake during the operation and she watched her heart beat in the cardiac monitor and also observed the total stoppage of her own heart (no electrical activity). At the completion, she observed restarting of her heart and enjoyed the whole procedure with a smile and absolutely without any pain. Immediately after shifting the patient to the ICU, she had talked to her mother and taken liquid diet too. She called this as a ‘MIRACLE'.





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