What is Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery?
Minimally invasive cardiac surgery, also known as MICS a form of is heart surgery, performed through small incisions instead of the traditional open-heart surgery that requires a median sternotomy approach.
What is the difference between MICS and open-heart surgery?
Minimally invasive heart surgery involves making small incisions (6-8 cm) on either side of the chest (depending on the surgery) to reach the heart between the ribs, rather than cutting through the breastbone, as is done in open-heart surgery.
Is MICS Surgery Safe?
Evolving literature shows MICS is as safe as Open heart or conventional heart surgery in terms of survival and long-term outcomes. The advantages are lesser bleeding, lesser pain, shorter ICU stay, and hospital stay.
What is the recovery time for MICS heart surgery?
On average, MICS recovery takes 3 to 4 weeks compared to the usual 6 to 12 weeks recovery from an open-heart procedure.
What is the success rate of MICS surgery?
MICS surgery has evolved over time. Multiple studies have shown MICS surgery is comparable to Open heart surgery in terms of survival and freedom from major adverse cardiovascular events. For example 5 year survival after CABG is 85-90% even in the very serious left main disease; it is 94% after aortic valve replacement and about 65-70% after mitral valve replacement (better survival if mitral valve repaired).
Dr Soumya Guha
Senior Consultant
Dept. Of Cardio-Thoracic & Vascular Surgery
DESUN Heart Institute, Kolkata.
