Unusual Closed-Heart Procedure Performed at Tallinn Hospital
In a first for a hospital in Estonia, doctors at East Tallinn Regional Hospital said they have performed a minimally invasive procedure to install a clamp in a patient prone to atrial thrombosis - using a catheter and without performing open-heart surgery.
Cardiologist Tiina Uuetoa told ETV the procedure has a short inpatient period of just 24 hours. As this was the first time for such an operation in the country, the patient, who suffers from atrial fibrillation, remained under observation somewhat longer, she said.
The patient was on the operating table for less than two hours, as expected, said Sulev Margus, senior physician and head of the angiography department. A flexible catheter was inserted through a thigh vein and ultrasound imagery was taken repeatedly as the device was guided through the patient's circulatory system to the heart.
The procedure was first performed in 2005.