Shawesh Desk:

For the 2nd time in public hospitals, the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) conducted an MICS bypass surgery of a patient’s partially blocked blood vessels that transport blood to the heart muscles.

The 1st one was minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS) and now the second one is MIDCAB-Minimal Invasive Direct Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting, which was 1st time of this kind, the chief surgeon.

A team of 10 doctors headed by Dr Ashraful Hoque Sium conducted the operation on a 40-year-old man, M Matin from Moulvibazar on September 02.

The other members of the team were Dr Asif Ahmed Chowdhury, Dr Romena Rahman, Dr Sahriar Moinuddin, Dr Md Mynul islam, Dr Ishrat, Dr Wahida Salam, Dr Monzur Hossain, Dr Ahsanara, perfutionist Dr Rubayath Ahmed, anesthetics Dr Azad and Dr Rabbikul Razu.

“We carried out the surgery on Matin with full anesthesia which took around four hours,” Dr Sium said, adding that the cost of the operation was around Taka 50,000, of which the hospital charge was Tk 5,000 only.

National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute charges around Taka 2,50,000 for the same surgery, said Dr Sium.

“The condition of Matin was good and he was fit after three days to go home, but he would be released tomorrow as he wanted to stay under observation for two more days,” Dr Sium said.

Matin’s heart was blocked and he needed a surgical procedure to restore normal blood flow to an obstructed coronary artery.

“Generally in traditional procedure, by cutting sternum, the surgery takes four to six months to heal the bones, patients has to tolerate severe pain and bleeding and there are more possibilities to get infected,” he added.

But MICS or MIDCAB is completely free from all these complications, he said.

Dr Sium expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for allocating special budget to the NICVD for importing the instruments required for MICS or MIDCAB.

In MICS or MIDCAB, surgeons perform heart surgery through small incisions in the chest as an alternative to open-heart surgery.

Surgeons do not cut through the breastbone, rather they operate between the ribs, which may result in less pain and a quicker recovery.