Staying Awake For Heart Surgery
As if the prospect of open-heart surgery were not scary enough, consider this: Some doctors are now performing the operation on patients who are actually awake, reports CBS News Health Correspondent Dr. Emily Senay.
When Joe Pohlman was told he needed bypass surgery for a blockage in his heart, his reaction was typical.
"I was scared to death," Pohlman recalls.
But his surgeons offered him a chance to be one of a few patients in this country to undergo a pioneering heart surgery that would shorten his hospital stay and allow him to bounce back more quickly than standard surgery. He didn't even need to be put to sleep during the operation.
What makes the surgery so unusual is the use of local anesthesia instead of the complete and paralyzing general anesthetic. Dr. John Williams blocked the feeling in Pohlman's chest using a spinal epidural like those used in childbirth.
During surgery the patient's body still experiences much of what is going on, but it isn't able to relay that information as pain to the patient's brain.
Dr. Williams monitored Pohlman's discomfort, and provided moral support. Another drug was used to relieve anxiety.
"Does it feel like you're having trouble breathing? Is that what the deal is?" Dr. Williams asked Pohlman during the surgery. "You're not going to be able to feel your chest move, because I've numbed up all your nerves in there."
The anxiety drugs also help eliminate trauma by erasing any memory of what happened during surgery.
"We often analogize it to the old question, 'If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one there to hear it, did it make a sound?'" said Dr. Williams.
"I don't remember anything about the surgery at all," said Pohlman. "Until I saw myself in the videotape, I wasn't sure that I was, in fact, awake."
These days, Pohlman continues his speedy recovery, with no memory of his surgery and no regrets.
"I was overwhelmed by how easy and how well I came through the process. I felt like I wanted to go dancing as soon as the anesthetic wore off, and I almost did," Pohlman said.
The surgery is also minimally invasive, in that it's performed with a small incision that doesn't involve cutting through the breastbone, and the heart is beating while the surgeon does the bypass. The Pittsburgh team hopes to make bypass surgery a more attractive option for patients by making it less traumatic.
CBS News Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel said the surgery reminded him eerily of Men In Black because, "They blot out your memory."
Dr. Senay says the surgery won't totally replace general anesthesia.
"You have to be in good health for the procedure. You might get into the midst of an operation like this and have to switch to general anesthesia. But it would be a good option for a lot of people. You get out the hospital faster, recover fast," she said.