Kenya performs coronary bypass surgery on a beating heart — Nation Kenya

In Kenya, at Kenyatta National Hospital, coronary bypass surgery was performed without stopping the heart and without using a heart-lung machine. As Nation Kenya reports, this is the first coronary artery bypass grafting procedure in East and Central Africa to be performed on a beating heart.

Surgery without stopping the heart

The technique is called off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting — coronary artery bypass surgery performed without the use of a heart-lung machine. During traditional complex operations, the patient's heart is stopped and blood circulation is maintained by a special machine. With this technique, surgeons operate directly on the heart while it continues to beat.

According to experts cited by the publication, avoiding cardiac arrest may reduce the number of surgical complications and blood loss, as well as speed up patients' recovery.

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Cooperation with foreign doctors

This week, the hospital is performing 11 operations in cooperation with doctors from Canada, Japan and Sweden. The publication notes that the number of patients requiring such specialized medical care has significantly exceeded previous estimates.

Kenyatta National Hospital has previously carried out a number of complex medical procedures. In particular, Kenya's first kidney transplant was performed there in 1978. In 2023, the hospital performed an intrauterine blood transfusion for an unborn child, and in 2024, the first laparoscopic kidney surgery in a public hospital.