A local surgeon recently completed the province’s first minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) surgery at Foothills Medical Centre.

Cardiac surgeon Dr. Daniel Holloway grafted a blood vessel onto the patient’s heart to create a new path for blood to flow around a blocked artery – while the patient’s heart was still beating.

Traditional bypass surgery involves a full sternotomy: the patient’s breastbone is split apart to access the heart, which requires the patient to be on a heart and lung machine. With MIDCAB, the surgeon enters the chest cavity through a five- to seven-centimetre incision between the ribs, a much less invasive procedure.

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