Cardiac surgery breakthrough
West Australian doctors have been hailed with making one of the biggest advances in heart surgery in 20 years, after finding a way to unblock major valves using small tubes passed through the groin.
The new procedure, reported in the West Australian, is being used at Royal Perth Hospital. It eliminates the need for riskier open heart surgery and could save the lives of many thousands of patients, particularly the elderly who may previously have been considered untreatable.
Part of a specialty known as interventional cardiology, the technique of percutaneous aortic valve replacement was first used in Australia by Sydney doctors late last year but has only been offered in West Australia in the past few months, with seven patients having so far been treated.
