Patient Dies During Webcast

[Guest]

There was a meeting of cardiac surgeons in Washington DC yesterday. A live webcast of a procedure being done in Milan, Italy where an aortic valve is inserted through a small incision in the chest instead of cutting through the breast bone. The webcast was suddenly ended when it appeared that the patient was "crashing". An autopsy showed that the aortic valve was correctly placed but the patient, a 77 year-old-man suffered heart failure and died. The surgeon who was doing the procedure says that his center has done 500 of them and that this was only the second death.

 

[weekycat]

I just read that too...

I just read that too...

It's too bad that the patient didn't make it, but it's encouraging to know that they are working on new ways to do valve surgery. The article I read, said something about threading the new valve through a leg artery, which sounds pretty incredible to me!

So far, they're only doing this procedure on patients that are too sick to withstand regular open-heart surgery, which may be one reason why this particular patient didn't survive.

Here's the article I read:

Patient Dies After Surgery Telecast Live

September 30, 2004 07:10 AM EDT


WASHINGTON - Hundreds of doctors watched on live video as Italian surgeons replaced a man's heart valve without cutting open his chest. Then something went wrong.

The valve was in place, but his heart was failing as the live telecast to Washington ended. Two hours later, the 77-year-old died in a Milan hospital.

The death, telecast to doctors gathered here for an international meeting, was not the first associated with this cutting-edge experiment, which is offered as a last option to patients so sick they couldn't survive standard open-heart surgery.

But it illustrates the hazards of broadcasting straight from the operating room, a popular way of teaching new techniques to doctors at medical meetings.

"We agonize" when the patients fare badly, said Dr. Martin Leon, chairman of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation that runs the international meeting on minimally invasive heart treatments.

But, "with each complication, we learn what to do next time," Leon added as he described Monday's telecast in an interview. "We show the most difficult techniques. We challenge ourselves. We have to, or physicians are not going to learn."

It was the second death during 500 live operations telecast over the years at this prestigious heart meeting, he said.

California-based Edwards LifeSciences is one of several companies trying to develop less grueling heart valve replacement, by threading new valves through a hole in a leg artery instead of cutting open the chest.

Complications began immediately Monday as Milan's Dr. Antonio Colombo, a leader in the field, implanted the Edwards valve. Among them: severe blood leakage in a spot the experimental valve had passed through.

In an interview Wednesday, Colombo said an autopsy found the new valve was properly working and hadn't caused the blood leak, but couldn't determine cause of death.

But Colombo stressed that overall, the method is promising. Monday's death is the third among about 30 study participants so far, people already near death from their inoperable valve disease, he said.

 

[LUVMyBirman]

That's too bad. Risky business any way you cut it. Was given the option of the less invasive approach. Many many people have had great success....good surgeons will explain the additional risk factors involved in such a proceedure. I was just more comfortable giving them the 'full picture'. As I understand it....that particular approach usally works in favor of the mitral valve patient. Might have just been his valve type?

 

[Shine_on_Syd]

I am sad to hear of the gentleman's death.
I explored the option of minimally invasive surgery, but my surgeon told me that he needed the working room. Although my chest and ribs hurt for a good 12 months post op, it was a small price to pay for successful surgery.

 

[Guest]

I made a mistake. It was not through the chest but threaded up through the leg.

It will probably not be long before they are all done this way.

 

[McCln]

As with any new procedure, there are always risks involved. Like the way they did my repair years ago was not procedure. It is done everyday now with hardly any complications. There is always some new technique coming along everyday with its own set of problems. It was the man's time to go. Bless him for trying to prolong his life this way, for others to live after him.

 

[djacq]

On the news today, my heart surgeon was featured as he did successful OHS on a 98 year old Doctor. He was recovering very well.

I hope this man's death does not discourage future innovations in cardiac surgery.

Donna

 

[Guest]

God Bless the souls of those who have gone before us and offered themselves up to new and different procedures that many of us now benefit from. They are truly the heros of heart disease!