Houllier opens new heart centre

Houllier had life-saving heart surgery at the centre six years ago

Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier is back in the city to open a new operating theatre at the hospital where he underwent heart surgery.

The state of the art hybrid theatre at Liverpool Cardiothoracic Centre is the first of its kind and will be used to treat aneurysms.

The new theatre has an imaging system designed specifically for the most complex procedures.

Houllier had his life-saving heart surgery at the centre six years ago.

He flew from France for the opening and was reunited with his heart surgeon Mr Abbas Rashid.

The new system in the theatre can create accurate three-dimensional images of complex networks of veins and arteries with a single scan.

These pictures can then be super-imposed on those of the patients allowing doctors to work with pin-point precision.

Mr Rashid, consultant cardiac surgeon, said: "The new operating theatre can cope with the most complex and technologically demanding procedures which are available today for the treatment of aneurysms of the aorta."