Leading the way in heart surgery for 50 years
A hospital in Liverpool is celebrating half a century of specialist heart and chest services.
In early 1964, the city’s first dedicated cardiothoracic unit was established at what is now known as Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (LHCH) - the leading and largest single site heart and chest hospital in the UK.
The unit brought together onto one site the cardiac services previously provided at Mossley Hill Hospital, with the chest services that were already available on the Broadgreen Hospital site.
The first open heart operation at the newly established unit was subsequently performed on February 22nd 1964 by surgeons Leslie Temple and Pat Molloy.
Mr Temple, who had already pioneered some of the country’s first open heart operations for mitral valve disease, was a leading figure in establishing Liverpool as a major centre for cardiac surgery. Surgeons from around the world, including Australia, Canada, Greece and the Sudan, were trained and mentored by him.
One of the latest patients to benefit from the surgical techniques first developed by Mr Temple is 34 year old Business Manager from Wirral, Carolyn Warburton.
It was only after visiting her GP about a lingering cough that a problem with her heart came to light.
“I thought I might be prescribed some antibiotics to clear up my cough, but I certainly didn’t consider anything more serious,” said Carolyn.
“I’d not had any other symptoms, so it was a really big shock when my GP sent me for an ultrasound. I was then referred to LHCH to be told that I needed surgery to repair the mitral valve in my heart.”
However her thoughts of undergoing major open heart surgery were relieved, following discussions with Mr Paul Modi, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at LHCH.
He said: “The traditional way to approach the mitral valve involves opening the front of the chest and is very invasive requiring a three month recovery period. Clearly, Carolyn would have had a visible scar on the front of her chest.
“However I explained to Carolyn that LHCH is one of the few hospitals in the country that performs minimally invasive mitral valve surgery and that this approach would be appropriate for her.
“The surgical technique uses a small incision on the right side of the chest to give access to the heart and a high-definition video camera is then used to guide the procedure inside. It leaves minimal visible scarring and allows the patient to return to regular activities within three weeks.”
Carolyn’s surgery took place on February 21st, almost 50 years to the day since the first open heart procedure was carried out at the hospital.
She added: “The fact that I’m recovering well and looking forward to returning to work so quickly is testament to the expertise of Mr Modi and his team, but also in some way to the ground-breaking techniques carried out at the hospital by Mr Temple in 1964.”