The Da Nang Hospital announced on Tuesday that it has successfully performed minimally invasive heart surgery on two patients with an atrial septal defect, bringing high aesthetic effect, safety and fast recovery time for patients.

One of the two patients undergoing minimally invasive heart surgery is being monitored at the Da Nang Hospital. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

Most recently, A 14-year-old boy, a resident of Lien Chieu District and a 9-year-old boy, a resident of Hai Chau District, have been diagnosed with congenital heart disease associated with an atrial septal defect by doctors of the Cardiology Center under the Da Nang Hospital. Then, both young patients have been required to undergo surgery for heart.

Surgeons at the Department of Cardiology under the Da Nang Hospital have decided to perform minimally invasive heart surgery to ensure the best quality of life after surgery for children instead of the conventional heart surgery method.

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Hieu from the Department of Cardiology, in the past with the classic open-heart surgery, the patient would have to saw off the entire sternum with a long incision from the sternum to the tip of the sternum about 15-20cm for adults, and 8-10cm for children. This open surgery technique often has shortcomings such as bleeding, sternum infection, long bad scars, and prolonged hospital stay.

With a minimally invasive surgical method, surgeons only open a short skin incision about 3-5cm in the intercostal space with the help of surgical means. The advantages of the method are fewer traumas to the patient, less pain after surgery, less risk of wound infection, less postoperative time, and small scars to ensure aesthetics, especially for girls.

After surgery, the two patients recovered quickly, without complications. After 5 days of good ultrasound results, they were discharged from the hospital.

Minimally invasive heart surgery technique with outstanding advantages compared to classic surgery is increasingly becoming popular in the world as well as in Viet Nam. This technique requires the whole medical team to be highly trained and experienced in cardiovascular pathology surgery.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG - Translating by M.DUNG