Coronary bypass performed without cutting the chest in first human case

Doctors report the first human coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) done by threading tools through a leg blood vessel, and the patient showed no coronary obstruction at six months; researchers say further testing in more patients is needed.

For the first time in a human, doctors performed coronary artery bypass grafting without cutting through the chest. The team inserted and threaded surgical tools through a blood vessel in the patient's leg to re-route blood around a blocked coronary artery. The technique, reported in Circulation Cardiovascular Interventions, is called ventriculo-coronary transcatheter outward navigation and re-entry, or VECTOR. The patient was not a candidate for traditional open-chest CABG because of heart failure and poorly functioning artificial heart valves. Key details: - The procedure reroutes blood around a blocked coronary artery without opening the chest by using instruments passed through a leg blood vessel. - The new technique is named VECTOR (ventriculo-coronary transcatheter outward navigation and re-entry). - The case patient had heart failure and old, poorly functioning artificial heart valves, making open-chest CABG unsuitable. - Six months after the procedure, the patient showed no signs of coronary artery obstruction, which the report describes as a successful outcome. - Researchers say the result suggests a less traumatic alternative to open-heart CABG could be possible but that further testing in more patients is required. Summary: The VECTOR approach is an experimental, less invasive method for performing coronary bypass that was successful in this single reported case. Researchers report that additional patients and further testing are required before the technique could be considered for wider use.