Day surgery hole in the heart study

30 January 2008

A study has been published from the cardiology department in Oxford demonstrating the feasibility of closing small holes in the heart under local anaesthetic. Dr Mitchell helped establish the service to image from within the heart using a small ultrasound probe in Oxford in 2003.

The operation is usually performed in less than thirty minutes whereas previously patients would require a general anaesthetic or open heart surgery. Patients can now have the operation perfomed as a day case and a number of Jersey patients have already benefited.

The publication made the national newspapers in December. Click here to read the article in the Daily Mail.

Ponnuthurai FA, van Gaal WJ, Burchell A, Mitchell AR, Wilson N, Ormerod OJ. Safety and feasibility of day case patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure facilitated by intracardiac echocardiography. Int J Cardiol. 2007 Nov 23; [Epub ahead of print]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2007.07.141

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