Live Heart Surgery on the Internet

Surgeons at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston recently replaced a patient’s aortic valve during a live Internet broadcast. The web cast, which is the third in a series, is intended to educate medical students, cardiac surgeons, and the general public about the latest minimally invasive techniques now available for such a procedure.

Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement—or limited superior median sternotomy—is not as widely performed as the more traditional form of surgery, which requires the patient to undergo a complete sternotomy in order to access the heart. However, the less-invasive form of the surgery is gaining popularity among cardiothoracic surgeons as technology improves and the benefits to the patients increase.

“While the success rate on this type of surgery is very high, the recovery process, traditionally, can be a painful experience for the patient,” said Lawrence Cohn, MD, Chief, Division of Cardiac Surgery at BWH. “By performing the less-invasive version of this surgery, the patient may enjoy a faster and less uncomfortable recovery.”#

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