Dr MM Yusuf, a leading cardiac surgeon in India, and one among the few experts in robot-assisted cardiac surgery in the world, has successfully performed robotic coronary artery bypass surgery on two patients in their 80's and one in their 90's, recently.
The 93-year-old patient is the oldest to have undergone a robot-assisted cardiac surgery in the country. All three patients, one of whom was admitted following a heart attack, went back home to lead a normal life within just five days of the surgery.
Commenting about the surgeries of the senior citizens, Dr MM Yusuf said, "We are very happy to have successfully treated the heart diseases of our elderly patients with robot-assisted heart surgery. The angiogram findings of our patients showed that they were not suitable for stenting because their coronary arteries were severely calcified. Due to their age, frailty and other comorbidities they were also not suitable for traditional open coronary artery bypass surgery. Hence, we chose robotic surgery which is minimally invasive."
He continued "It requires only a couple of tiny holes on either side of the chest, and a 5 cm cut on the chest wall. There are no cuts in the legs, as we only use arteries for the bypass graft. Therefore, the risks of surgical site infection are lower. The surgery scars are smaller and almost unnoticeable. The patients experience less pain and blood loss. They also require a shorter hospital stay - usually only two to four days, and go back to leading their routine life within a couple of weeks. Our patients started walking, and left for their homes within just five days of the surgery. They are now leading independent lives with fewer restrictions."
Robotic surgeries are being rapidly adopted in India for the treatment of a wide range of heart conditions in recent years, by limited centres with expert surgeons like Dr MM Yusuf. They are used in a number of procedures such as coronary artery bypass graft, valve surgery, cardiac tissue ablation, heart defect repair, and tumour removal. These surgeries are a boon for the elderly patients who otherwise would not have availed the benefits of surgical interventions, and would have been left to manage their heart diseases just with medicines, with the risk of a heart attack looming over them all the time. Robotic surgeries are done with the help of tiny instruments and robot-controlled tools. A typical robotic surgical system comprises of a camera arm and mechanical arms with surgical instruments. They ensure more precision, and provide greater flexibility and control for the surgeons during the operation.
Dr MM Yusuf, an alumnus of Stanley Medical College, has completed FRCS (Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons) degrees in General Surgery from the Royal College of Edinburgh as well as from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow. He then completed his Higher Surgical training with an FRCS in Cardiothoracic surgery. He went on to complete a fellowship program in Robotic & Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery in Belgium, following his 20 years of medical training in the UK, and has since been spearheading the adoption of robot-assisted heart surgery in India. He is known for his work ethos, and often says "Every patient is someone's Father/Mother, Son/Daughter, Brother/Sister, I care".
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( With inputs from ANI )
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