{"id":839330,"date":"2026-08-01T01:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839330\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T01:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:11:11","slug":"less-invasive-heart-bypass-technique-developed-by-canadian-shows-promising-results-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839330\/","title":{"rendered":"Less invasive heart bypass technique developed by Canadian shows promising results, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Marc Ruel, a world-renowned heart surgeon pictured in 2025, has pioneered a less invasive approach to heart bypass surgery.Dave Chan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

For nearly 60 years heart bypass surgery has been done by splitting the breastbone, but a less invasive approach pioneered by Marc Ruel<\/a>, a cardiac surgeon at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, helps speed up patient recovery, according to new research.<\/p>\n

Patients who have the surgery performed through a small incision between the ribs, reported an easier recovery one month postoperation, along with other benefits, a study published Friday in The Lancet medical journal found.<\/p>\n

The study detailed the findings of the first randomized controlled trial comparing the two methods for multivessel bypass surgery. Dr. Ruel, a world-renowned heart surgeon and the lead author, said the newer approach allows patients to get back to their normal lives faster. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been perfecting bypass surgery for almost 60 years. People ask \u2018Why change the way that it\u2019s done when it works well?\u2019 Well, because it\u2019s too invasive,\u201d Dr. Ruel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking a breastbone incision serves the surgeon for sure, there\u2019s no question, but it doesn\u2019t optimally serve the patient. And there are ways that the surgeon can still do a perfect job, yet the patient be served better. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve shown.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new type of surgery is helping some cancer patients keep their fertility intact during treatment<\/a><\/p>\n

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery, which helps restore blood flow to areas of the heart, is the most common type of heart surgery performed in Canada with an estimated 25,000 procedures annually.<\/p>\n

The study\u2019s findings could influence cardiac care worldwide, Dr. Ruel said. <\/p>\n

Other advantages to the newer method include a shorter total ventilation time and fewer blood transfusions than the conventional method, known as a median sternotomy, a surgical cut down the middle of the chest through the breastbone.<\/p>\n

At the one-year mark, there were no deaths or strokes recorded in either group and other serious adverse side effects were infrequent across the board.<\/p>\n

Until the new study, evidence supporting the nonsternotomy approach was scarce save for non-randomized studies at single centres. And Dr. Ruel said many surgeons were skeptical of the technique.<\/p>\n

This is despite known drawbacks of the standard approach, including a delayed return to full physical activity, chronic pain, the risk of infections and the breastbone healing incorrectly, the authors noted. <\/p>\n

The study addresses concerns, which have tempered wider adoption of the procedure, according to the researchers. It demonstrates that avoiding a sternotomy can improve patient recovery at the one-month mark \u201cwhile showing no apparent reduction in procedural quality or safety through to 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

In total, 170 patients were part of the trial between August, 2018, and November, 2024, at seven centres across six countries: Canada, India, China, Germany, Japan and the United States. Most of the participants were male with a median age of 67.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ruel said there will need to be widespread training on the technique. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy next job is going to be to teach this to young surgeons around the globe,\u201d Dr. Ruel said, adding that more than 150 teams have already visited Ottawa to learn how to perform this operation and bring it back to their respective countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never want to be considering the patient as a guinea pig. If we bring innovation, it\u2019s absolutely essential you do it safely and effectively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ruel performed his first nonsternotomy bypass surgery in September, 2005, on a three-vessel bypass patient from Gatineau. He is now nearing 1,000 surgeries of this kind with successful outcomes.<\/p>\n

Authors noted that the underrepresentation of women was a limitation of the study, \u201cwhich might reflect perceived technical challenges related to anatomical factors.\u201d They said growing experience in this method may address this perceived barrier.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ruel said there are less women who receive treatment for heart disease compared to men, which added to the difficulty in recruiting women. <\/p>\n

He also said it is more challenging to perform the surgery on women with larger breasts or implants but, in his practice, said women have responded \u201cextremely well\u201d to the less invasive approach. <\/p>\n

The study\u2019s authors said the results of their trial may inform future studies evaluating less invasive surgical techniques in women, \u201cfor whom the effect of surgical invasiveness on recovery and outcomes remains inadequately studied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patients enrolled in the trial are being followed for five years, which will provide insight into long-term outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Dr. Marc Ruel, a world-renowned heart surgeon pictured in 2025, has pioneered a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,84,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-839330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-health","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}