The cardiac surgery team at NYU Langone Hospital — Brooklyn poses with hospital leadership following the successful completion of the hospital’s first Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) procedure. Photo courtesy of NYU Langone
By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com
NYU Langone Hospital — Brooklyn completed two open heart surgeries last week, marking a significant milestone for the borough’s healthcare system. Both patients were Brooklynites who received the procedures near home and have been recovering well, according to the surgeons.
Whereas several hospitals in Manhattan perform a particularly difficult type of heart surgery called coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), the options in Brooklyn are scarce. Mount Sinai offers CABG at its Manhattan locations, for example, but not in Brooklyn; NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope is one of the few borough-based sites for the surgery.
That scarcity exists for good reason: the surgery is incredibly complicated to pull off. “[CABG] involves working on tiny coronary arteries, or blood vessels, to bypass blockages in the heart,” said Mathew R. Williams, MD, chief of adult cardiac surgery and co-director of NYU Langone Heart. “It requires extreme precision as it involves creating new ‘plumbing’ by using a graft to form a new channel for blood to flow to the heart. Unlike other heart surgeries, CABG focuses on restoring blood flow to the heart by rerouting blood around clogged arteries.”
In America, heart disease has been the leading cause of death since 1950 and over 3,000 people undergo CABG annually. The procedure, also known by the name ‘open heart bypass surgery,’ can take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours to complete, and the average life expectancy for patients after receiving the treatment is around 18 years. In fact, over 80% of people who require CABG are still alive 5 years afterwards.
“It was exciting,” said Dr. Williams, when asked about the two recent procedures. “What made it even more rewarding was seeing the patients go home just three days after surgery, feeling well and knowing they now have an improved longevity.”
A spokesperson for NYU Langone Hospital — Brooklyn explained that the successful surgeries were a “coordinated effort” by NYU Langone Heart’s experienced cardiac surgeons, specialized cardiologists, and dedicated advanced practice providers and nursing staff. The hospital announced in December that it was expanding cardiac services, and has made great strides since then. On top of the two CABG surgeries, the center’s cardiologists have also successfully performed more than 40 advanced atrial fibrillation ablations, something hospital representatives said was not available in Brooklyn previously.
