ONLINE EXTRAS SITE SERVICES > > Friday, Jul 29, 2005 Health Posted on Tue, Jul. 26, 2005 Beating-heart surgery an option for bypass By STEVE SEMBRAT The heart-lung machine, which made coronary artery bypass surgery practical when it came into use in 1953, is no longer a prerequisite for the operation. Improved technology is allowing more doctors to perform the procedure without using a heart-lung machine. Dr. Alfred Casale of Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center’s Heart Hospital said that performing “beating-heart” bypass surgery or “off-pump” surgery may make the procedure safer, which is good news to high-risk patients who need bypass surgery. “Even that small, additional stress the heart-lung machine can provide could throw them over the edge,” Casale said. “With the patients who are the sickest, avoiding the extra trauma of using t

more...