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Heart operations - Waikato HospitalThis is from the press conference at Waikato Hospital tonight featuring Dr Sanjeevan Pasupati (Sri Lankan), Dr Gerry Devlin (Irish), Dr Clyde Wade (Kiwi), Waikato Heart Trust chairman George Vickers and Health Waikato chief operating officer Jan Adams. Two procedures were completed today. The first on Ramona Johnson, 79, of Tauranga and the second on a 91-year-old Hamilton woman. Two more are planned for Friday - Fraser Wilson, 60, of Gisborne and Alan Miller, 79, of Otorohanga. There is a possibility there may be a third. The first procedure on Mrs Johnson went through the femoral artery and the second through the left subclavian artery, a major artery of the upper thorax that supplies blood to the head and arms. The operation is used on elderly patients or those with medical conditions who were unable to go through open-heart surgery, although conventional aortic valve replacement by open-heart surgery under general anaesthetic remained the procedure of choice. Date: 28 August 2008 Mary Anne Gill |