At Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals (RB&HH), London, Mr Toufan Bahrami is at the forefront of pioneering new totally endoscopic surgery for valve repair and replacement. The procedure offers an alternative to sternotomy, and allows for a quicker patient recovery time with better aesthetic results.
Performed exclusively at RB&HH, the endoscopic procedure is designed to treat patients with mitral valve disease but is also suitable for tricuspid and aortic valve repair. Taking around four hours and performed under general anaesthetic, a 3cm incision, without rib spreading, allows enough room for endoscopic instruments to rotate 360 degrees providing multiangled and precise views.
Cutting-edge 3D technology
A high-definition 3D camera is used to direct the procedure inside the heart and the surgeon can then repair or replace the damaged valve. During the procedure, surgeons wear 3D glasses and are guided by images projected onto a 4k screen, which allows other surgeons in the room to see the same images. The projected images can also be accessed remotely, allowing our specialists to collaborate from anywhere in the world.
Mr Bahrami, consultant cardiac surgeon at Royal Brompton Hospital, explains: “This pioneering technology has revolutionised the way we work, as we’ve never had such a view of the operating field. We can now access views from deep inside the chest, through high-quality 4K images – and one big advantage of this, is that we can use the 3D projections to teach our trainees.”
Gold-standard approach and results
Totally endoscopic surgery has similar results to a sternotomy procedure but allows for a much smaller incision with less bleeding, greater precision, less pain, and less chance of infection, resulting in a quicker recovery.
Due to its minimally invasive nature, patients are usually discharged after three days. Within four weeks patients have reported being active again with minimal scarring and fewer complications when compared to a standard procedure. “Without minimally invasive and totally endoscopic options, we would not be able to provide these gold-standard results,” comments Mr Bahrami.
- To find out more visit: www.rbhh-specialistcare.co.uk/totallyendoscopic
