India's first bypass surgery using endoscopic radial artery harvesting was performed by cardiothoracic surgeons at Wockhardt Heart Hospital at Mulund, Mumbai. This surgery is a new revolutionary technology for removing an artery from the forearm through a 'wrist-watch incision' for greater patient comfort. This is also the first time such an operation was performed outside the US.

The existing method of removing radial artery involves making a 24-cm cut in the forearm that leaves a life-long scar. However, the new technology now involves making a small 3-cm incision near the wrist to extract the artery with minimal loss of blood.

The operation was performed by Dr. Kaushal Pandey and Dr. Shantesh Kaushik, cardiothoracic surgeons at Wockhardt Heart Hospital, assisted by two visiting doctors from the US, Dr. Mark Genovesi, heart surgeon and innovator of this technology, and Dr. Michael Stauder, physician-associate.

"This method is very patient-friendly," said Dr. Tushar Desai, general manager at Wockhardt Heart Hospital. "It is a lot less painful, causes less discomfort, and the patient can use his hand almost immediately, compared to seven days of discomfort when the artery is removed in the conventional way." There is negligible loss of blood and a much smaller scar. This is an important factor these days when many of the bypass patients are under 45. Leading doctors in the city watched the operation live via a satellite uplink.

A majority of heart surgeons worldwide prefer to use the artery from the forearm for bypass grafting. Arterial bypass grafts last 15 to 20 years unlike veins taken from the leg, which last only 10 to 15 years.