Heart surgery first for East Lancashire (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Heart surgery first for East Lancashire

11:00am Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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HEART surgery specialists have made history by performing the first life-saving angioplasty operations in East Lancashire.

Consultant cardiologists Dr Ravi Singh, Dr John McDonald and Dr Kanarath Balachandran carried out the procedures in the Royal Blackburn Hospital’s existing cardiac catheter laboratory.

Until now patients who needed the operation had to travel to either Blackpool or Manchester.

But the experts used new equip-ment, which will be housed in a new £3million laboratory by May, so the technique can be carried out routinely in the region.

Peter South, 67, from Barley, was the first to undergo the procedure.

The doctors fed a fine tube from the artery in his arm into his coronary arteries and placed mesh stents inside narrowed or blocked areas.

Using special fine wires, a tiny balloon was used to expand the stent and leave it in the artery, holding the vessel open and improving the blood flow.

Patients stay awake throughout the procedure and doctors check their progress with constant blood pressure, electrocardiogram and X-ray monitoring.

retired driving examiner Mr South went for a check up after he started struggling to breathe on a bike ride.

An exploratory procedure called an angiogram revealed a severely blocked coronary artery.

He said: “I was due to have the operation at Blackpool, but when they rang and said I could go to Blackburn instead, a couple of weeks earlier, I jumped at the chance.

“I wasn’t a guinea pig because all of the cardiac team had been already performing the procedure at other hospitals, but doing it at the Royal Blackburn was obviously very important to them. They told me I was making history.”

Peter Cale, 71, from Waddington, a former design draughtsman, had his operation on the same day.

He said: “You’re awake and relaxed throughout, and supported by a really brilliant set of staff.”

Both men are now set to begin physiotherapy and rehabilitation to help keep their hearts healthy.

Dr Singh said: “This is the culmination of a huge project, which has taken years of planning.

"The new facilities will be a real asset to the people of East Lancashire.”