Open Heart Surgery by Talking

Prof. Dr. Öztekin Oto and his team performed a first in Turkey in a three-hour operation in which a patient was able to speak even when his breathing was stopped. The procedure was completed with only a 5-centimetre incision.

Hasan Dağhan, 20-year-old Hasan Dağhan from Mardin, who has been receiving treatment for rheumatism pains in his feet since he was 10 years old in Izmir and who had severe insufficiency in the aortic valve of his heart, returned to life with open heart surgery performed through a small hole in Dokuz Eylül University Hospital without being put to sleep.

In the operation, which was a first in Turkey, the "neck anaesthesia" method was applied to the patient instead of the "waist anaesthesia" method used in abortions and births. While Dağhan was awake, the heart valve was replaced through a 5-centimetre incision.

In the operation performed by Prof. Dr. Öztekin Oto, Prof. Dr. Nejat Sarıosmanoğlu from the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Assoc. Dr. Fikret Maltepe and Dr. Kemal Karaarslan from the Department of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation Intensive Care, the patient was able to speak even though his heart was stopped. Professor Öztekin Oto stated that the neck anaesthesia method had been used in some heart surgeries before, but it was the first time it was applied in open heart surgery:

"We have been working on small hole heart surgeries for 10 years. We performed the first small hole heart surgery 10 years ago. Replacing the aortic valve at 5 centimetres was something we were working on. What is different here is that we did not give general anaesthesia to the patient, that is, we did not put him to sleep at all. Hasan had first undergone angiography at Yeşilyurt State Hospital and the decision for surgery was made. When he came to us, he was in the fourth stage of his disease. Although the patient was connected to the heart-lung machine during the operation, he remained awake and we made only a 5-centimetre incision."

Explaining that the procedure performed by anaesthesiologist Assoc. Dr Fikret Maltepe is of great importance, Oto said the following: "The patient enters the operating theatre on foot, undergoes surgery with an incision that is one-third of normal, can speak when breathing stops and can walk out of the operating theatre at the end of the procedure." Explaining that the minimally invasive AVR application is a serious advantage in terms of recovery, especially in elderly patients, Prof. Oto continued his words as follows:

"The patient returns to work early after surgery. For example, if AVR is made small for an elderly person in a nursing home, the patient becomes able to take care of himself. A patient whose sternum is completely cut needs to stay away from work for 3-4 months. With the last method, a person doing a desk job can return to work at the end of the first week." Hasan Dağhan, one of the seven children of the Dağhan family from Mardin, who live in Kadifekale, stated that one of his older and younger brothers also suffered from rheumatism, which started at an early age, and that they recovered with medication.