The Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass surgery or OPCAB is considered a faster, safer, and less costly surgical procedure for heart patients. It is a proven surgical procedure that has successfully treated many patients with coronary heart diseases. And it is offered at The Medical City-Clark’s Cardiovascular Center.
To shed some light on OPCAB, experts from TMC-Clark share these five facts about the surgical procedure.
High-risk patients are eligible for this operation
High-risk cardiac operations are now managed with expertise. The heart-lung machine used in Coronary Artery Bypass Graft surgeries could be harmful since it increases the risk of a heart attack, more commonly in high-risk patients, as it needs to arrest the heart. On the other hand, OPCAB performs the procedure while the heart is still beating, overruling the need to use a heart-lung machine.
It results to a faster recovery time
Not using the heart-lung machine in most of the procedure will now remove its bad effects, resulting to the patient’s early recovery and early return to work. Those who undergo the OPCAB surgery usually recover within five to seven days after the surgery. In addition to that, OPCAB surgeries has the same success rate as CABG surgeries, at 99 percent.
It is performed by expert doctors
TMC-Clark houses a team of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgeons who are locally and internationally accredited on their sub-specialties, a cardiovascular anesthesiologist, and an in-house cardiac critical care intensivist who performs OPCAB surgeries. These doctors were trained in the Philippine Heart Center and are internationally recognized fellows from the American College of Surgeons, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the Asian Society of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.
It costs less
OPCAB requires fewer anesthesia and without the added cost of the heart-lung machine, it cuts down the expenses of the patient. Since the recovery time is also shorter, there is less hospital room costs. TMC-Clark also offers the best package for catastrophic illnesses including coronary bypass graft with the PhilHealth Z Benefit, which lowers the cost to ₱650,000, with PhilHealth shouldering ₱550,000. This means the patient only needs to pay a total of ₱100,000 for the operation.
It is accessible to North and Central Luzon residents
Heart disease has remained one of the top causes of mortality in North and Central Luzon. TMC-Clark has trained doctors who have the same level of expertise as Metro Manila doctors. High quality medical services are not only found in Metro Manila, as The Medical City Clark offers the same high quality surgery with less cost for the patient.