Pioneering valve surgery planned

The surgery is done through a small incision in the skin

Heart surgeons in Leicester will perform the first keyhole aortic heart valve replacement in the UK on Tuesday.

The technique has only been used at four other hospitals in the world before - in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada.

Cardiologists at Glenfield Hospital will replace the valve in an operation that is less invasive as it does not involve open-heart surgery.

The new technique implants the valve using a catheter in a short operation.

'Biggest invention'

Dr Jan Kovac, consultant cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, said: "In the past, patients had to endure open heart surgery and would have been in hospital for at least a week after their operation.

"This new catheter treatment is much quicker and in most cases patients will be back home within a few days of having the operation.

"This technique is the biggest invention in cardiology over the last 30 years since the introduction of the coronary angioplasty.

"As more and more of these operations are performed around the world, there's no question in my mind that many patients in the future will be able to have heart valves replaced percutaneously (through the skin) in a cath lab rather than having to endure open-heart surgery."

Heart valve replacements are the second most common heart operation carried at Glenfield Hospital after coronary heart bypasses.