In a major effort to reduce pain and recovery time for cardiac patients, Apollo Hospitals performed a 'Mini Bypass Surgery' or 'Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery'. Known as 'Endoscopic Conduit Harvesting' the bypass surgery was done through a small 8-10cm incisions with only partial division of the chest bone. This minimal access approach is not limited to doing single vessel bypass surgery, but it is applied to the entire spectrum of patients even those requiring four or five bypasses.

The team of doctors at Apollo Hospitals, Bangalore led by cardiac surgeons: Dr. Mohammed Rehan Sayeed and Dr Sathyaki Nambala performed the novel surgery option.

The biggest advantage of this method is that it is less invasive, resulting in reduced bleeding and rate of blood transfusion is almost nil. There is also less postoperative pain, less risk of infections and smaller scars. It is ideal for high risk patients especially those with weak lungs and brittle bones The chest bone is not divided fully so that patients can get back to routine activities early and get complete revascularization which improves their long term survival significantly, explained Dr. Rehan.

The conduits for bypass surgery is harvested using an endoscope. This has reduced the incisions from long ugly scars to small pretty incisions of 1 inch in length. . Endoscopic harvest of conduits is the norm in the western world and Apollo Hospitals Bangalore is offering it in India. The team also does all its valve surgery both repairs and replacements, congenital heart surgery such as hole in the heart closure through minimal access approaches. Minimally Invasive approach incisions are tailored to be cosmetic

Coronary artery disease is the major cause of heart disease and as Indians are more prone to this killer disease. The average age of a patient with coronary artery disease is 70 years in the West while it is a meagre 45 years in India. The country is still home to a large set of patients suffering from rheumatic heart disease where the valves of the heart are badly damaged, the only mode of treatment for these diseases has been open heart surgery through long 20-25cm incisions which are painful and leave lasting scars both physically and emotionally.