TODAY'S TMJ4

Your Heart in HD

MILWAUKEE - Modern medicine goes even higher tech. The operating room is going digital.

65,000 Americans need to have a heart valve surgery every year. What used to be a huge operation is now much easier on patients.

We got an exclusive look into one of Froedtert Hospital's high tech operating rooms.

Doctor Saqib Masroor invited us to document a relatively new procedure-- fixing a leaky mitral valve, and correcting the patient's heartbeat-- both laparoscopically.

"With a scope you can see exactly where you are, it's much easier," Dr. Masroor explains.

Ten years ago, Dr. Masroor would have had to crack a person's chest--leaving a huge scar, and leaving the patient in pain for weeks. But now he says, "You're not cutting any bone, not spreading any muscles, less bleeding, very quick recovery it's remarkable."

It's the newest gear in the O.R.--brand new HD cameras and monitors.

The cameras make the heart look much bigger on the screen. What are actually tiny stitches look like ropes. After the valve is repaired, quickly freezing sections of the heart restores the heartbeat. With this precision work, the patient will recover quickly. One guy recovered so quickly, he was home in Michigan before we could interview him!

"You really don't have any limitations this patient walked up the next day, was home in 3-4 days, there were no limitations on him doing weights or doing any activities he was up and about," Dr. Masroor recalls.

The doctor's goal is to learn even more minimally invasive techniques. He says it's all about the patients. "Helping patients in more dire straits with a minimally invasive approach, something that will make them heal better and faster."

Laparoscopic techniques are becoming more popular. You need not only the technology, but also the training. It' takes at least an extra year of specialized surgical training to perfect the procedures.