By: Prasaad Bhosekar

Hyderbabd, May 31: City-based renowned heart surgeon Dr Prateek Bhatnagar has performed an "unusual feat" of conducting seven bypasses on a critically ill heart patient using the beating heart surgery and arterial grafting.

Bhatnagar performed the surgery on Satyanaryana, who had blocks in all his three main coronary arteries along with four branches of coronary arteries.

"A check angiography was also done on the patient which indicated that all the seven bypasses done were working very well. This angiography will now be shown at the national and international foras since this surgery is the first of its kind performed in the country and the state," Dr Bhatnagar from Care Hospitals said.

This particular surgery, the Doctor says, also removed misconceptions about ``beating heart`` surgeries that it can be done on patients having only one or two blocks.

Explaining the procedure of beating-heart surgery, he said that a special equipment is used called the `myocardial stabiliser` to make it easy for the doctors to perform the bypass while the heart continued beating.

The myocardial stabiliser has a vaccuum suction and holds the area in particular where the bypass is being done even as the heart continues to beat.

With the success of this procedure it is now proved that patient with any number of blocks can be operated upon using beating-heart surgery, he added.

Satyanarayana`s operation took little more than three hours. Interestingly, six hours after the operation, Satyanarayana was served tea and within a week he was ready to climb stairs up and down.

``Now I am very happy and comfortable and moreover I am feeling good.``

The Care Hospital is now planning to use Satyanarayana`s operation as case study and is planning to take the same to medical conferences in India.

Bureau Report