PIONEERING doctors repaired a woman's heart by carrying out two keyhole surgery operations at the same time, in a UK first.

Two heart specialists at The Essex Cardiothoracic Centre, based at Basildon Hospital, successfully carried out a dual operation on a patient with two types of heart disease.

Doctors spent seven hours doing keyhole surgery to fix both problems rather than the traditional option of cutting open the patient’s chest.

Cherie Bason, 65, of Challacombe, Thorpe Bay, underwent the procedure and was out of her hospital just four days later, when normal recovery from open heart surgery could take three months.

Cherie said: "I would like to say a big thank you to the doctors for all they have done.

“It really is amazing, it would normally take a few months to recover from but this was much less invasive and has only left me with a slight scar.

“I can now go for walks and before the operation I would feel breathless.

“My doctor asked me to stop going to the gym because of my condition and if you had told me when I went in for the operation how I would feel four weeks on, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

Mrs Bason was diagnosed with two heart-related problems; coronary artery disease, which in her case had caused a severe narrowing in one of the arteries that supply blood to the heart; and a severe leak in her mitral valve, which controls blood flow through the heart chambers.

Inderpaul Birdi, consultant and cardiac surgeon at Basildon Hospital worked with his colleague Paul Kelly, consultant cardiologist at Southend Hospital, to devise the plan for Mrs Bason’s surgery.

He said: “It’s the first time in the country this has been done. We’ve been performing keyhole heart surgery at the centre for several years now and patients recover so much quicker.

“We’ve got a very active programme with the cardiologists putting in stents and we decided to combine that with the keyhole surgery.

“The surgery took longer than a normal surgery would, but ultimately Cherie spent less time in hospital because we did the two procedures together.

“One of the main benefits is how little scarring it leaves patients with compared to when we go through the breastbone.”

The double operation took place in the £1.3million state-of-the-art hybrid operating theatre in the centre.

ONE of the surgeons who performed the operation says it is a ‘very exciting’ time for the hospital.

Inderpaul Birdi, consultant and cardiac surgeon, at Basildon Hospital worked with his colleague Paul Kelly, consultant cardiologist at Southend Hospital to devise the plan for Mrs Bason’s surgery.

He said: “It’s the first time in the country this has been done. We’ve been performing keyhole heart surgery at the centre for several years now and patients recover so much quicker.

“We’ve got a very active programme with the cardiologists putting in stents and we decided to combine that with the keyhole surgery.”

Mr Birdi and Mr Kelly spent five hours in surgery following weeks of planning and discussion with their teams.

Mr Birdi said: “We are confident with the expertise we have at the centre and this was a well planned operation. We went over each part of it and worked together and included all our clinicians so it was sensible in our approach.

“The surgery took longer than a normal surgery would but ultimately Cherie spent less time in hospital because we did the two procedures together.

“One of the main benefits is how little scarring it leaves patients with compared to when we go through the breastbone.”

Patients from as far away as Norwich come to the centre for keyhole surgery but Mrs Bason remains the first and only patient to undergo the dual operations.

Mr Birdi said: “It’s very exciting to be able to carry this out and the hospital and the trust is now in a very different place. We have worked very hard at the centre on this sort of pioneering surgery and this operation will cement our reputation that this is a centre of excellence.”

Maldon and Burnham Standard: The operation in progress

THE pioneering operation was made possible by Paul Kelly, consultant cardiologist and Inderpaul Birdi, consultant, cardiac surgeon, from Southend and Basildon Hospitals.

The usual way to treat Mrs Bason’s combination of problems would be open heart surgery, with a repair to the mitral valve and a bypass graft on the narrowed artery.

This operation would involve the breastbone being cut in two, with a vein being taken from the leg.

However, the surgeons devised a new way to do a combined operation, with a coronary angioplasty to widen the blocked artery, followed immediately by a keyhole mitral valve repair. The healing time following keyhole surgery is about seven to 10 days, compared to 12 weeks if the breastbone is cut.

Mrs Bason was anaesthetised, and Mr Birdi exposed the artery in her right groin. Dr Kelly inserted a fine guidewire down the artery and a stent was used to open the narrowing.

A repair to her mitral valve was performed immediately after by Mr Birdi. A small incision was made between Mrs Bason’s ribs and the mitral valve was repaired using a keyhole heart surgery technique perfected at the centre.