Sheffield heart patient home on same day after keyhole surgery

A pensioner who had a heart valve replacement in Sheffield was able to go home the same day after “pioneering” treatment, a hospital trust has said.

Donald Raybould said he was “amazed” to be home hours after keyhole surgery,

Mr Raybould, 86, had a minimally invasive TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) at the Northern General Hospital on Tuesday morning.

He was discharged five hours later, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said.

Mr Raybould, a granddad-of-three who retired 20 years ago, was diagnosed last year with aortic stenosis, a severe narrowing of the heart valve.

He said he had his “life back” and could return to his old hobbies.

“I’ve always been active, I do my gardening and my hobby is rebuilding old motorbikes in the garage, but my narrowed heart valve meant I could not work in the garden or fix up my beloved piles of rust,” he said.

The “pioneering light-touch service” was introduced at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals last year, and allows patients over 75, who have severe heart valve disease but who cannot have open-heart surgery because of their age, to have heart valves replaced without general anaesthetic, the trust said.

It adds 10-15 quality years of life to elderly patients with severe heart valve disease, it added.

Mr Raybould, a retired builder, was “amazed” when he was told he could go home in record time.

Cardiologist Dr Muhammad A Rahman, who performed the procedure, said it was down to the “phenomenal” team who get elderly heart patients home, recovered and able to live life again.

“Whilst not everyone will be able to go home on the same day as their light-touch TAVI, we hope to keep pushing the boundaries and using our specialist skills to transform the lives of hundreds of elderly patients in the region,” he said.

Mr Raybould said before the procedure he had to stop twice going upstairs, but now he had “no problem”.