First keyhole heart valve operation in UK

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) Doctors in Leicester today will become the first in Britain to use keyhole surgery to replace a heart valve.

The procedure, to be conducted on an 89-year-old woman at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital, has only been performed to date in four other hospitals worldwide.

In the new technique, heart valves are implanted using a catheter inserted into an artery in the groin, avoiding the need for the trauma of open heart surgery.

It has been developed to treat elderly patients who would otherwise be too infirm for major surgery.

Jan Kovac, consultant cardiologist at the hospital, said the procedure was the biggest invention in cardiology over the past 30 years since the introduction of coronary angioplasty -- a similar keyhole operation to unblock clogged arteries.

''In the past, patients had to endure open heart surgery and would have been in hospital for at least a week after their operation,'' he said.

The new catheter treatment is quicker, avoiding the need to cut the breastbone and stop the heart.

In most cases patients are back home within a few days of having the operation, he said.

''As more and more of these operations are performed around the world, there's no question in my mind that many patients in the future will be able to have heart valves replaced percutaneously (through the skin) in a cath lab rather than having to endure open-heart surgery,'' Kovacs added.

Doctors have previously carried out the procedure at hospitals in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada.

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