Doctors hope to have Food and Drug Administration approval to move PMTR from experimental to general use by the start of 2001, DeMaio says. Bypass surgery refined For patients who arterial blockage is too extensive for angioplasty, bypass surgery remains the chief option. However, it has been considerably refined, too. In the past, patients routinely went on a heart-lung machine. It keeps the blood circulating and the lungs going while the heart is stilled for surgery, but it's hard on the cardiopulmonary system.
Recovery takes longer.
But that has changed. Primarily, it's appropriate for one or two bypasses. The same sort of limited-exposure procedure can be done to repair or replace the mitral valve. Surgeons don't even have to open the chest to do bypasses any more. If only one or two arteries must be bypassed, they can operate through a narrow incision by remote control.