When a heart-lung machine was invented that could take over the job of the heart, put oxygen into the blood and keep the circulation going during surgery, surgeons could stop the heart while they were cutting and suturing. Recently, in certain cases, some surgeons have begun operating without the pump while the heart continues to beat.
“The benefits of off-pump surgery are tremendous for patients who meet the criteria for this procedure,” says Dr. Jim Zellner with the Alliance of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgeons. “There is less need for blood products, less chance of complications during and after surgery, earlier recovery and earlier return to regular activity.”
Seawood Murray feels he was led by God to find Dr. Zellner and Memorial Hospita and to have off-pump surgery.
A veteran of the United States Navy as a nuclear weapons security officer and commanding officer of a mine assembly group for more than 31 years, Seawood has never complained about stress or pain. He saw three tours of duty off the coast ofVietnam.
However, after suffering from chest pain for almost a year and being misdiagnosed with chronic heartburn, Seawood knew something was seriously wrong. At the Veteran’s hospital in Murfreesboro, he learned he had heart disease and was told to come back in six weeks.
“I didn’t want to wait that long and asked for a referral to The Chattanooga Heart Institute,” Seawood says. “Dr. Noel Hunt found that 40% of my heart was not getting the amount of blood it needed to operate properly.”
Four days later, Seawood was undergoing off-pump triple bypass surgery at Memorial Hospital under the hand of Dr. Zellner.
“I was sitting up that evening, walking around the second day and feeling good enough to go home the third day, but I stayed till the fourth morning,” Seawood says. “Two others who had on-pump bypass surgery the same day I had mine off-pump were barely walking when I left.”
