Heart surgery saves lives, but the recovery can be excruciating and often involves a list of powerful medications that carry their own set of risks.
One surgeon with Ascension Providence said he’s developed a way to reduce that pain and the need for those meds.
This innovative approach is done with a probe that gets down to negative six degrees Celsius.
“We apply this (the probe) to the nerve for about two minutes, which allows the nerve to die,” said cardiac surgeon Christopher C. Phillips. “Now, it retains the sheath, not to get too technical, but essentially, the nerve does grow back after about three months. It gives the same result of what a dentist does to a tooth when filling a cavity.”
Phillips said they started pioneering the project about two years ago. It’s FDA-approved and has been done on about 450 patients now. The results show less pain for patients.
“I have a story of a 65-year-old that actually woke up after open heart surgery and was angry because he thought he didn’t have surgery,” Phillips said. “He had no pain. He didn’t understand it, and then he realized he had an incision.”
Less pain means less use of opioids, and patients can be discharged sooner.
“We basically discharge all our patients without narcotics, and then some rare cases where we deal with patients who have drug abuse problems that end up with infected valves,” Phillips said. “These patients don’t go out with narcotics for pain management that they don’t need.”
It’s not new technology because it’s used in thoracic surgeries but never with heart surgery.
Patients like Bill Byers are grateful for this development.
“I still know it’s a long road, but it’s shortened, and it’s made easier,” said Byers.
He had a heart attack in November and needs to have surgery at Ascension Providence Rochester Hospital.
“You’re not on medicine, you’re not on pain pills, maybe some Tylenol big deal,” said Byer. “I’ve known other people who’ve gone through it where the recovery periods are a lot longer and slower.”
Phillips was nominated for a Global Cardiovascular Innovation award. That event is in London in March.