Hove Man Receives Pioneering Heart Surgery At Brighton Hospital

Pioneering life-changing heart surgery performed at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has been hailed as ‘a great success’ by the doctor leading the surgical team.

The procedure was previously only available in London, Bristol and Manchester, but last summer UHSussex became the first Trust in the south-east to be granted funding from NHS England.

Known as Pascal, the procedure to repair a leaking heart (mitral) valve, involves threading a replacement valve through a tiny incision in the groin and up through the body. 

It is apparently less invasive than traditional heart surgery and allows many more people to have the procedure than was previously possible.

It's also quicker to complete and requires a shorter hospital stay. 

The Trust has since carried out around 20 operations since its first last year and expects to do another 50 this year.

Now it's available in the south east, people requiring the surgery will not be referred away from their area or have to manage this condition with medicine only.

Patient Richard Godden is testament to the life-changing merits of the PASCAL heart procedure.  A few weeks ago he couldn’t go out on his own, and was ‘stuck in his armchair at home.’ Now he’s looking to rekindle a 30-year friendship with a trip to the Sunshine Coast in Australia.

Richard, aged 77, who lives in Hove, said: “I went in for the procedure in December. I went in on a Wednesday and came out the next day. Remarkable.

“The care I received was brilliant, great. Second to none. Everyone was really lovely and it’s great the procedure was available at my local hospital. It’s made such a difference to me and it will for many other people like me.

“Before the operation I was basically in my armchair. A really low quality of life. I would struggle for breath, had to get a stair lift in, needed someone to come with me when I went outdoors because I couldn’t walk very far on my own.

 “The difference I felt after the operation was huge. I can breathe better. I can exercise a little. I can walk further.

“Now, I am looking forward to going to Australia on my own to visit a very dear friend. I’ve asked the doctors and they’ve said there is no reason why I can’t go.”

Richard, a retired accountant, added:

“I first met my friend Francine at Lake Titicaca in Peru 30 years ago. Over the years we’ve visited each other but Covid and my health put a stop to that.

“But now I’m on the way back and looking forward to visiting the Sunshine Coast in Queensland later this year. I’ll spend a few months out there and Francine is a retired nurse – so she can look after me.”

Professor David Hildick-Smith leads the team who do the procedures. He said:

“This has been the great success of the past year for us.  There were only three Trusts in the country – in London, in Bristol and in Manchester – where this procedure was available. Not many patients wanted to travel, even to London, to be assessed for it, because they are usually quite poorly.

 “The mitral valve replacement was ground-breaking. However, there are so many patients who do not qualify for the procedure because that demands an exact heart fit for the technology. That meant so many patients had no real alternative – really just open-heart surgery which is often not appropriate for these patients as the risks are high and the recovery is long. The other option has been just tablets with progression usually to heart failure over time.

“Having the expertise at the Royal Sussex in Brighton ready to carry out the procedures and getting the funding has been a huge advance for us as we can now offer some patients life-changing treatment. “

 He added:

“How the PASCAL differs from the mitral valve replacement is that when we go in through the groin instead of implanting a whole new valve, we repair the leak by clipping the two leaflets together where there is a leak. That brings the leaflets together and stops the blood going backwards. And actually the results from this strange-sounding type of treatment have been very good and very durable so for many elderly patients this could give them as good a result as a mitral valve replacement.

 “Now we have this procedure available, people who would have had to put up with breathlessness and fatigue and are unable to do what they want can now come in, have a two hour procedure, a night in hospital and be back home walking the dog the next day. This improves their quality of life and increases their life expectancy.

 “In the long-term technology will improve for the replacement but until it does we are the only hospital in the south east that can offer this to patients. It is a great development.”