SA: Heart surgery trial tests new device

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2000
SA: Heart surgery trial tests new device

By Sherrill Nixon

ADELAIDE, Feb 14 AAP - Heart surgery patients in Adelaide are taking part in a world-first
clinical trial to compare a new device called an "octopus" with traditional open heart
surgery techniques.

Eighty patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery will be split into two groups,
with half to use the conventional heart-lung machine and half to use the new "off pump"

method.

Scientists say the new technique, which enables surgeons to operate on the heart while
it continues to pump, is less invasive and should have a lower impact on patients' hearts
and brains.

But the trial being carried out at the Flinders Medical Centre is the first time the
theory has been properly tested.

FMC principal medical scientist Rod Baker said the new procedure had gained in popularity
since the octopus equipment was first developed in the early 1990s.

The device has little suction pods which are placed on either side of the artery to
hold it still during surgery, even though the heart is still beating.

In traditional open heart surgery, the heart is stopped completely and a machine takes
the place of it and the lungs.

"Whilst many surgeons have adopted the new device, there's very little data out there
about whether it's actually better or not," Dr Baker told AAP.

"What we are trying to do is prove it scientifically that this is the best way to go."

Dr Baker said the trial would examine the impact on the heart of both techniques by
studying a protein called troponin T, which is released when the heart muscle is damaged.

The patients would also undergo neuropsychological testing following surgery to determine
the impact on the brain.

Previous research has found some patients experience problems with memory, concentration
and minor personality changes for several months after heart surgery.

Dr Baker said the scientists were happy with the progress of the trial, with about
25 per cent of the participants already undergoing surgery, and preliminary results would
be released at a United States conference in May.

AAP sn/bdm

KEYWORD: OCTOPUS

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