Doctors at NICVD now perform ‘total laparoscopic bypass surgery'

Surgeons at the national heart institute have performed bypass totally in a laparoscopic way, a month after their initial success.

Dr Asraful Hoque Sium, an assistant professor at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), who led the team, told bdnews24.com that they used a new ‘endoscopic approach’ in leg to get the vein required for grafting in heart for the bypass.

Last month he conducted the first ever bypass surgery at the NICVD without cutting the chest bone on a 12-year old girl, Nupur.

“But at that time we had taken the veins through traditional way of giving long incision in legs. This time we took it using endoscopic approach in which a small incision was needed,” Dr Sium said, calling this a ‘total laparoscopic bypass’.

The patient, 50-year old Al Amin, is doing well. The surgery was done on Wednesday, he said.

“This method is very convenient for patients. Endoscopic procedures cause little blood loss, so the risk of infection is small. These techniques reduce patients’ pain, discomfort, minimise scarring and shorten recovery time. So they can go home quickly,” he said.

“Eventually it reduces costs for a patient.”

Doctors are expecting to release the patient from hospital on Saturday.