Canadian first in heart surgery at Cité de la santé

By Robert Frank, September 26th, 2012

When Laval resident Maurice Abourmad entered Cité de la santé, his coronary artery was almost completely blocked. Today, he is “in top shape”, according to his doctor.
Not only did his medical team succeed in reopening the flow of blood from his heart, they did so without the usual lifelong side-effects typical of this sort of heart surgery.
“This was the first time in Canada that a scaffold was used on a clinical basis,” explained hemodynamics cardiologist Dr. Samer Mansour.
“Usually surgeons implant a stent, made of metallic chromium or stainless steel to open up the blood vessel,” Dr. Mansour told The Suburban in an interview. “After a foreign object is inserted into a blood vessel, patients have to take blood thinners for the rest of their lives to avoid the risk of life-threatening blood clots.”
“A scaffold is bioabsorbable,” he continued. “It decomposes into water and carbon dioxide.”
He explained that while the scaffold opened up the artery the same way as a stent does, it is made of a material that slowly disappears from the body within 12-18 months of the surgery.
In addition, the alternative to a metal stent is impregnated with heart medicine, which it delivers directly to the heart, precisely where it is needed.
“What we have learned is that every time you put a stent in a blood vessel, there is some degree of risk,” said Dr. Mansour.
In contrast, “The drug that is on the scaffold prepares the blood vessel for better healing.”
The result is vastly improved quality of life for the patient, he claimed.
The groundbreaking surgery was authorized by a special Health Canada permit, after scientific trials were completed on the scaffold device.
The dramatically better outcome for heart surgery patients comes together with with a significantly higher price. The new procedure costs three to four times as much as a traditional metal stent.
From the first recipient’s perspective, though, the results are unequivocal.
“When I returned home, I didn’t feel as though I had a device implanted in me,” he concluded. “I’m eager to return to my previous pace of life.”n