New Zealand doctors now have a new tool in the fight against the country’s number one killer – heart disease.

Doctors have spent the weekend in Wellington learning new surgical tricks of the trade by a leading interventional cardiologist.

Today leading Japanese cardiologist Doctor Etsuo Tsuchikane performed an operation that was watched live by 75 Australasian cardiologists in a lecture theatre nearby.

Tsuchikane performed surgery on 57-year old Bruce Clout, who had a badly blocked artery in his heart.

“I feel a bit nervous but not too bad about it,” Clout said.

But understandably it was the doctor who was more nervous than his patient.

“I want to focus on my procedure but I have to explain (it also),” Tsuchikane said.

Fellow cardiologists were being taught a brand new technique to classic balloon angioplasty.

Clout’s artery was so blocked it had become calcified, so the surgeons used a rotorblade to take off the plaque and clear a path. What is known as a stent is then inserted and ballooned, or opened up, leaving the artery clear.

Around 15 to 20% of patients, like Clout, have a total blockage and until now there has not been much that can be done to fix it totally.

Patients can be tried on new drugs, have angioplasty on another artery or face open heart surgery but none of those options are as good as the new method demonstrated today.

Angioplasty is preferred over open heart surgery in Japan for cultural reasons.

“Japanese people do not want to be cut, historically, because we have a long history of sword, samurai sword, so they don’t like to be cut,” Tsuchikane explained.

Similar Posts:

• Awake brain surgery saving lives in NZ
• BP Check by Dental Student Gives Patient New Lease on Life
• Woman To Show Off Newly Transplanted Hand
• Doctor wins hearsay evidence case
• Weight Loss Surgery May Help Diabetes