A hospital in Nigeria has successfully performed the country's first minimally invasive cardiac procedure.
The landmark achievement marks the country's inaugural foray into minimally invasive cardiac surgery.
Based in Lekki, Tristate Hospital recently performed the first coronary artery bypass grafting, or off-pump CABG, surgery in Nigeria.
The hospital’s surgical team also accomplished another milestone by conducting the nation's initial mitral valve replacement. .
Tristate Healthcare Systems is at the forefront of this development, trailblazing the realm of minimally invasive coronary artery bypass and mitral valve repair within Nigeria.
The successful outcomes of these operations have positioned the West African nation among the select few in the developing world equipped with the capability to undertake intricate surgical interventions of this nature.
The procedures were performed on four patients. One of the patients was an 81-year-old woman who needed a valve replacement.
Cardiologist and Professor of Medicine Kamar Adeleke led the cardiology team and announced the feat at a press conference, outlining how they have conducted more than 120 regular open-heart procedures nationwide.
Previously, Nigerians had to travel to the West, India or South Africa for life-saving, minimally invasive heart operations.
Professor Adeleke said: ‘Now, we’re using techniques that have never been done in Nigeria. Apart from the fact that it is minimally invasive, we also did not stop the heart. The heart was beating while the blood vessels were bypassed.’
He explained that, unlike the traditional on-pump CABG method of bypass surgery, the off-pump CABG is a relatively new procedure that does not require a lung and heart (cardiopulmonary bypass) machine.
‘Historically, the way you carry out heart surgery is to open up the chest, then put the patient on a respirator, sedate the patient, and then make an incision to expose the heart. Depending on what you are doing, for instance, if you are doing the valves inside the heart, you have to open up the heart itself. You must stop the heart completely and connect it to the heart-lung machine to do that.’
Professor Adeleke explained to the press that the delivery of innovative cardiovascular surgical procedures reduces the duration of operations, minimises risk, shortens hospital stays and is more financially viable.
‘As a Nigerian that loves Nigeria, you can’t be happier that Nigeria can do this; Nigeria can come out of a mess. When Nigeria puts its mind to something, it becomes doable.’
Tristate is equipped to conduct two to three of the procedures daily. Professor Adeleke explained that a session takes an average of three hours to complete, compared to the traditional open-heart surgery, which could take up to 15 hours or more.
Professor Adeleke is a US-trained medical practitioner with over 34 years of experience as a consultant physician and interventional cardiologist.
He has extensive healthcare leadership experience in the USA and Africa, leading many successful and highly impacting medical missions in Africa, South America and the Caribbean.
