Heart surgeries can be traumatic. People dread post-operative days more than the surgery itself as they have to cope with the pain for weeks and 20-centimeter scar for the rest of their lives. If a bread-winner undergoes an open-heart surgery, economy of the household will go for a toss for months.

Here’s some heartening news for them. Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery (MICS) is gaining currency in India. “This is difficult for surgeons but comfortable for patients. Though there a few centres doing this procedure here and there, cardiac surgeons have realised the importance and began to change their mindset,’’ Dr Gopichand Mannam, Managing Director of STAR Hospitals, said.

The hospital is going to open a dedicated MICS centre on Friday. To mark this, the hospital is going to organise a two-day international workshop on MICS beginning January 13. Surgeons from Canada, the US and India would attend the meet to understand and discuss the new way of doing heart interventions.

Talking on the advantages of MICS at a press conference on Thursday, Dr Gopichand said the procedure involved making a small scar below a nipple to reach to the heart, unlike in the standard way of making a huge cut on the chest to do cardiac surgeries. “Patients can go home in two days and go to work in a couple of weeks,” he said.

Dr Marc Ruel, Professor at University of Ottawa Heart Institute who pioneered MICS, said loss of blood is small in this procedure against the standard format.

This procedure, however, costs Rs 25-50,000 more than the normal surgery. “But when volumes go up, this should come down,” Dr Gopichand said.

Risks

When things go out of hand, doctors could go back to the traditional method of doing surgery with back-ups readily available. This procedure generally takes one hour more than the normal one.

kurmanath@thehindu.co.in

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