Vijayawada hospital successfully performs awake bypass surgery

The cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery team at Aster Ramesh Hospitals in Vijayawada successfully performed Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) on a 76-year-old patient with Myasthenia Gravis (MG), with the patient being fully awake during the procedure.

According to a press release from the hospital on Thursday, the patient was in a highly critical condition, suffering from triple vessel disease, meaning severe blockages in all the three major coronary arteries, along with Myasthenia Gravis, a condition that weakens the respiratory muscles. Administering general anaesthesia to such patients can be life-threatening, so the medical team opted for the ‘awake bypass technique’.

In this procedure, the patient remains fully conscious and breathes on their own throughout the surgery. Using thoracic epidural anaesthesia, only the chest region is numbed, allowing the surgery to be completed without the need for a ventilator, according to the press note. The surgery was completed smoothly, and the patient is recovering well.

Dr. Pothineni Ramesh Babu, managing director of Aster Ramesh Hospitals, congratulated the entire medical team.