All You Wanted to Know about Beating Heart

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All You Wanted To Know About "Beating Heart"
Bypass Operation!
Bypass operation on (then) Prime Minister Dr.
Manmohan Singh occupied the headlines for some
time. Dr. Singh made a rapid recovery and is back
on the main stage. The event has brought the
focus on one of the most successful and rapidly
evolving surgical procedures of Modern medicine.
It has also raised the question about the safety
and benefits of Beating Heart bypass operation as
compared to the conventional one.
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What is Beating Heart (or Off-pump) Bypass
Operation?
Traditionally bypass operation or CABG (Coronary
Artery Bypass Grafting) is done using the help of
Heart Lung Bypass (CPB or Cardio-pulmonary
Bypass) machine. This machine does what heart and
lungs do normally in the body. It gives Oxygen to
the blood, takes away Carbon-dioxide from it and
pumps the blood to all parts of the body. This
enables surgeon to stop the heart and make it
bloodless. Complicated surgical procedures can
thus be performed safely and with greater
precision. However the CPB machine is not without
its share of dangers. As the blood comes in
contact with the tubes and the pumps of the
machine, the body systems recognize it as a
foreign atmosphere and reacts to it. This
reaction can create a variety of harmful effects
on different organs and some of them can even be
fatal.
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The idea to avoid CPB machine and its ill effects
during CABG led to the concept of performing the
operation on beating heart. Here the operation is
done while the heart is still pumping and the
lungs are working. So the support of CPB machine
or the pump is not required. Hence the name
Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass or OPCAB. It
needs no great reasoning to understand that doing
the same procedure when the target is in motion
demands greater care, precision and skills.