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May 4, 2000
NEW TECHNIQUE FOR CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS VIRTUALLY ELIMINATES THE USE OF BLOOD AND BLOOD PRODUCTS
A new approach to coronary artery bypass is reducing hospital stays and recovery time for patients at Hackensack University Medical Center. The procedure called Off Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery or OPCABS frees the surgeon from using a heart lung machine while performing a bypass.
In traditional coronary bypass surgery, the heart/lung machine is used to keep blood circulating as the heart is actually stopped and surrounded by ice to bring its temperature down. With a heart/lung machine a longer recovery time for the patient is often required. The OPCABS technique reduces recovery time and lessens other post-operative side effects.
"By allowing the heart to keep beating and keeping it at its normal temperature the patient benefits during recovery," said Peter Praeger, M.D., cardiac surgeon at Hackensack University Medical Center. "With OPCABS kidney function is not compromised, the aorta is manipulated less reducing the risk of stroke, and the respiratory tube comes out quicker resulting in fewer problems with the lungs. The patient's stay in the intensive care unit can be as quick as one day."
Indeed a patient who undergoes bypass using the off pump technique can - on average - expect a hospital stay of three to four days. According to Dr. Praeger a patient should take extra care in selecting a surgeon to perform an off-pump coronary artery bypass.
"Since this a technique where success depends on the abilities of the physician and not a piece of equipment, a patient should make sure they are comfortable with their surgeon," said Dr. Praeger "Only very experienced doctors and hospitals with exemplary cardiac surgery programs should be utilized."
Dr. Praeger said he has been using the technique almost exclusively and has been able to perform multiple bypasses - as many as seven on one patient - without the aid of a heart/lung machine.
According to the second official report released by the New Jersey State Department of Health and Human Services and for the fourth year in a row, the medical center had the state's best risk-adjusted survival rates for coronary artery bypass among the 13 New Jersey hospitals which have open heart surgery programs. While the fatality rate for open heart surgeries in New Jersey in the two-year period was 3.37 percent, the rate for cardiac surgeons at the medical center, who performed nearly 1,700 open heart surgeries, was 1.89 percent.
The medical center's open heart surgery began in 1985 and was the first in Bergen County. The division now performs more than 1,000 open heart surgeries every year, making it one of the busiest in the region and consists of three dedicated operating rooms in the Samuel Toscano, Sr. Surgical Suite.
There is a 14-bed Open Heart Recovery Unit and a 24-bed Step-Down Unit, both staffed by highly skilled critical care nurses, who provide around-the-clock care. The Heart Center is a state-designated regional referral center for cardiac catheterization, cardiac surgery, and electro-physiology studies. The Heart Center includes both non-invasive and invasive programs and offers a full-range of diagnostic and treatment services.
Hackensack University Medical Center
30 Prospect Avenue · Hackensack, New Jersey, 07601 · (201) 996-2000