Patching Holes Inside the Heart--While It's Still Beating

Newswise — Open-heart surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass pose serious risks, especially for children. Cardiac surgeons Pedro del Nido, MD, and Nikolay Vasilyev, MD, at Children's Hospital Boston have developed a way to avoid both, and patch holes inside the heart while it's still beating—using a catheter to deliver and anchor the patch, guided by real-time, three-dimensional echocardiography. They demonstrate in animals that congenital holes in the heart, even very complex ones, can be closed in this fashion. Catheters were able to navigate to the site of the defect and, using mini anchors, affix the patch precisely without damaging surrounding heart structures. The group has also prototyped special surgical instruments for beating-heart surgery and is working to incorporate robots in the operations.