Thailand Demonstrate Hi-tech Heart Surgery Live To Paris-- Via Satellite

Thailand demonstrate hi-tech heart surgery live to Paris--via satellite

BANGKOK: -- A medical team from Siriaj Hospital, Thailand's oldest and largest public hospital, Friday afternoon demonstrated their expertise in heart surgery by performing a high tech procedure called a "percutaneous coronary intervention," live via satellite to a global conference on cardiology in Paris.

The one-hour surgery was conducted on two patients at Siriraj's cardiac centre and broadcast live to be viewed by 15,000 participants at the EURO Paris Course Revasculization 2006 from 08:10- 09:10 a.m. (Paris time).

The two heart disease patients were in serious condition and required complicated treatments by highly skilled doctors.

One patient had calcium on his blood vessel walls, a condition normally seen in Asia and the other suffering an illness stemming from defective blood vessels on the left side of his heart.

Performing the surgery, the medical team combined normal medicine methods and advanced coronary rotational atherectomy techniques, normally done in only France, Italy, Japan and South Korea, according to Dr. Damras Tresukosol, head of medical team--which also included two doctors from India and Hong Kong.

Both patients would be discharged from hospital on Saturday, just 24 hours after the surgery.

The surgery was successful and demonstrated the world how advanced the technique was and how experienced and skillful the Thai doctors were in providing treatments for heart disease patients, said Dr. Damras, who also heads Siriraj's Cardiovascular-Intervention Unit.

"This will open the door for Thai doctors to enter the world's conference and research on cardiology," he said.

The annually-held Paris Course Revascularization Conference took place from May 16-19 and included doctors and medical technicians from Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East and Asia.

Siriraj Hospital was the only hospital in the Asian Pacific region to be selected to demonstrate its expertise broadcast live to the conference.

The other two hospitals chosen to join the event were one in France and the other in Brazil.

Siriraj Hospital was invited to participate in the conference due to its experienced and highly-skilled physicians having treated over 1,400 domestic heart disease patients annually by its high technology instruments, the heart surgeon said.

--TNA 2006-05-19