Calgary surgeon completes first minimally-invasive heart bypass operation

A Calgary surgeon has completed the first minimally invasive heart bypass surgery in Alberta, a procedure which offers patients shorter recovery times.

Dr. Daniel Holloway completed the minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) at Foothills Medical Centre — grafting a blood vessel onto the patient’s heart to create a new path for blood to flow around a blocked artery, all while the individual’s heart was still beating, according to Alberta Health Services (AHS).

A traditional bypass surgery involves a full sternotomy: meaning the patient’s breastbone is split apart to access the heart, requiring the patient to be on a heart and lung machine, AHS explains.

With MIDCAB, the surgeon enters the chest cavity through a five- to seven-centimetre incision between the ribs.

“Now we have a minimally invasive option for eligible patients requiring a single bypass,” said Holloway, a clinical associate professor in the University of Calgary’s Department of Cardiac Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine. “It’s very satisfying from a professional standpoint as the procedure is less complex and invasive. For patients, the recovery time is much shorter and easier.”

Forty-year-old Chris Kennedy was the second Albertan ever to undergo the procedure back in January.

In a release, he said the experience was positive.

“I was told in late December that I had a pretty significant blockage in my heart and that I would require surgery,” said Kennedy. “I was shocked because, at 40, and being healthy, you don’t expect to have heart problems. I have no family history of heart disease, I don’t have diabetes, and I have never smoked.

“I received fantastic care,” he added. “Three days after the surgery, I had regained a lot of my mobility, and I was able to drive just 10 days after my surgery and return to work.”

In a traditional surgery involving a sternotomy, patients can’t drive for six weeks and are often off of work for at least two months.

Although the recovery time for MIDCAB is much shorter, the new procedure may result in fewer complications since it’s done on a beating heart with no need for a heart-lung bypass machine, AHS explains.

Holloway and his colleague, Ganesh Shanmugam, received MIDCAB training at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at Toronto General Hospital through funding and leadership support from the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, the health authority says. The procedure is relatively new and only done at a few sites in Canada.

Cardiac anesthesiologists Dr. Christopher Noss and Dr. Douglas Seal also received MIDCAB training, AHS adds. The procedure requires specialized anesthetic techniques, including lung isolation or one lung ventilation; blood pressure and heart rate manipulation; and pain control, including unique nerve block techniques.

Six people have gotten the surgery since January across Canada, and Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary is the only facility offering it in Alberta.

Around 900 coronary artery bypass surgeries are performed at that hospital every year.