News

Consultant cardiologists at Kettering General Hospital are carrying out a new kind of heart procedure for the first time in Northamptonshire.

  The procedure is called a Coronary Sinus Reducer Implantation – which can be used when all conventional treatments for angina (chest pain caused by restricted blood flow to heart muscle) have failed.

So far 12 patients have benefitted from the procedure with three more procedures planned for August.

Dr Prashanth Raju, the Clinical Director of Cardiology at KGH, said: “This is a new procedure for Northamptonshire and has traditionally only been carried out at specialist heart hospitals.

“It provides new hope for patients with this kind of refractory angina which has not responded to conventional treatments.

“We normally treat angina with a combination of interventions including medications, coronary stents (angioplasty) and coronary bypass (CABG).

“For a small proportion of patients, despite using all these treatment options, they do not respond and continue to suffer debilitating angina symptoms. This limits their daily activities and affects their quality of life.”

The new procedure is a way of redirecting blood flow to areas of the heart muscle which have become starved of oxygen because of reduced blood flow.

By restricting flow and increasing pressure in the coronary sinus (the main vein which collects the blood form the heart) blood flow redistributes and hence supplies to the areas of the heart muscle where it is most needed, thereby reducing the pain caused by angina.

One of the first patient says the procedure has changed his life.

Peter Bridges, 77, from Great Easton has had heart problems since 1999 and has had three heart-attacks and many angina attacks.  

The angina attacks often come out of the blue, at any time of the day or night, and in all sorts of circumstance, which have led to multiple hospitalisations each year and are a constant worry for him and his family.

Over the years the father-of-two, who has four grandchildren and three great grandchildren, has had 16 coronary stents, all performed at KGH by consultant cardiologist Dr Naeem Shaukat.

He has also had a triple bypass operation, at Leicester, to treat his condition - but was still continuing to suffer debilitating angina attacks.

In October he became one of the first patients in Northamptonshire to have the Coronary Sinus Reducer Implantation at KGH’s Cardiac Centre. A procedure he had under local anaesthetic at 1pm and was home by 8pm.

The retired aircrew manager for British Airways said: “It has made an amazing difference to my life. I still get a bit of pain, you can’t cure refractory angina, but I am so much better and I don’t have anything like the frequency and gravity of attacks that I did before.

“It has given me my life back. I can see my grandchildren, go out for walks, travel again.

“I hold the Cardiac Team at KGH in the highest regard and I really hope this new procedure also helps to improve other people’s lives.”

Dr Raju said: “This is a day case procedure that usually takes less than two hours and is performed under local anaesthesia and mild sedation.

“A small flexible catheter is passed through the jugular vein in the neck into the right side of the heart under x-ray guidance and then an hourglass shaped stainless-steel stent is inserted into the main coronary sinus.

“After about 12 weeks, once the stent is fully covered with cells and healed, the patient should start noticing the benefits.”

This new procedure is currently performed by consultant cardiologists Dr Prashanth Raju and Dr Mohsin Farooq at KGH.

It is being supported by Shockwave Medical, the company which manufactures the Coronary Sinus Reducer Implantation. Shockwave Medical also helps organise training in the procedure for hospital consultants from across the country.