Baptist Hospital East : Baptist Hospital East

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A new procedure called MIDCAB or Minimally Invasive Direct Coronary Artery Bypass, helps patients recover quickly, while avoiding potential complications of traditional heart surgery.

With MIDCAB, the surgeon makes a small "trapdoor" incision -- as small as 3 inches -- between the ribs and operates on the still-beating heart. It's unlike traditional heart surgery, performed by making a 12-inch incision down the middle of the breastbone, stopping the heart and using a heart-lung machine to take over the heart's work.

The purpose of the procedure is not cosmetic. It is to avoid the risk and complications of cardiopulmonary bypass -- problems included in using the heart-lung machine. Complications from using the heart-lung machine can include bleeding and stroke.

Patients who previously had two or three heart surgeries or were considered high-risk for stroke.

The MIDCAB procedure is only appropriate for about 10 to 20 percent of all patients with coronary artery disease. Candidates for MIDCAB fall into two major categories: the very ill who would be considered at-risk if the heart-lung machine were used and young, healthy patients needing one or two vessels repaired who desire to return to work quickly.

Quicker recovery time is another benefit offered by MIDCAB. With traditional coronary surgery, recovery time is six to eight weeks. With MIDCAB, recovery time is as little as two to four weeks.

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