Austin Hospital, Heidelberg: Major breakthrough in coronary bypass surgery survival rates
A landmark study at a major Melbourne hospital has reimagined treatment for patients in need of coronary bypass surgery and dramatically improved their survival rates.
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A landmark study 25 years in the making could change the way coronary bypass surgery is performed and dramatically improve survival rates.
Doctors from the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg have reimagined treatment for patients in need of the procedure which is performed when one or more of the heart’s arteries are blocked.
Over two decades they trialled using the radial artery from an arm to replace the blocked one in the heart.
They found that this could increase the chance of survival and improve overall patient outcomes by up to 20 per cent.
Professor David Hare, from the Austin and University of Melbourne, co-led the study and said there were “huge implications for patients globally”.
“This is the first trial in the world that has ever demonstrated an approach for coronary surgery that in the long run, patients live longer,” Prof Hare said.
“It’s extraordinary stuff.”
Most patients who undergo a bypass will have an artery taken from behind the right side of their breast bone and further replacement grafts come from the left hand side or a vein in the leg.
The Austin study shows the radial artery could be the best fit, with fewer reported complications and long-term effects.
The procedure is not new but only a select group of surgeons worldwide choose to use the radial method.
Prof Hare, who worked with Professor Brian Buxton, said they felt it was important to “never be satisfied with the status quo”. “We thought the artery in the arm would be a good graft to use (instead) … because it’s actually an artery and more closely mimics the artery of the heart,” he said.
“And what we found was the radial artery from the arm was far superior.”
More than 600 people took part in the study in which patients were fitted with the radial, left breast bone or leg vein arteries and they were tracked over 25 years.
The results from an analysis of the group’s 10-year data were published this month in the journal Circulation.
At the age of just 36 in 1996, now Melbourne grandfather Mario Biondino was rushed in for bypass surgery after suffering two heart attacks.
He was recruited to the study and had a replacement artery taken from his arm, which he credits with saving his life.
“At the end of the day I’m happy to be where I am now; 25 years ago I could have left my three children behind,” Mr Biondino said. “To still be here is incredible.”
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