‘Faster recovery due to less cutting’
Medical science is booming. New medicines, treatments and insights are added every year. But which ones will really make the difference? We asked five doctors who specialize in
cancer, cardiac surgery, migraine, COPD and geriatric medicine. What are they looking forward to in 2019?
Bart van Straten (63) is a cardiac surgeon at the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven.
‘Faster recovery due to less cutting’
Heart surgery in which the entire sternum is cut open works very well, but nowadays it often happens differently. With ‘surgically minimally invasive heart surgery’ much less is cut, explains heart surgeon Bart van Straten. “In one method, for example, instead of making a large incision in the sternum, we only make a few small incisions. They provide less pain and a faster recovery. In addition, there is of course a great cosmetic advantage. Of course, the primary concern for the patient is that he or she is helped, but if the body still looks good after the operation, that helps with recovery.”
In another method, the surgeon no longer cuts into the breast at all. With the TAVI heart valve replacement, only a small opening is made in the groin. A folded artificial valve is guided through a catheter to the diseased heart valve. First the heart valve is pushed away by inflating a balloon, then the folded artificial valve is put in place and unfolded. The new heart valve takes over the function of the old one. Van Straten: “The patient does not feel any of this. He or she will have more air and a better condition after this.”
That sounds appealing. Why doesn’t everyone get such a minimally invasive procedure? “There are still major risks associated with this,” says Van Straten. “That is because of the high pressure. It’s 20 atmospheres. In comparison: in a normal bicycle tire the pressure is ten times smaller with 2 atmospheres. The pressure can break the electrical wiring near the heart. In that case, the patient also needs a pacemaker. In the worst case, the great artery bursts and the patient dies on the table. That chance is still quite high at 2 to 3 percent. The surgery is now only given to older, less fit patients for whom open-heart surgery is too taxing. When there really is no other way. But more research will improve surgery and reduce the risk.”
This article originally appeared in Plus Magazine January 2019. Not yet a Plus Magazine subscriber? Becoming a subscriber is done in no time!
Sources):
- Plus Magazine
