News
Hollywood Private Hospital celebrates cardiothoracic milestone
Mar 29, 2022
Hollywood Private Hospital staff are celebrating a milestone with more than 250 surgeries performed since the cardiothoracic service opened almost 18 months ago.
The multi-million dollar, purpose-built theatre was unveiled at the Nedlands campus in October 2020.
Since the facility opened, Hollywood has been able to offer potentially life-saving bypass and valve replacement surgeries.
Cardiothoracic surgeon Pragnesh Joshi said the services at Hollywood offered all types of minimally-invasive cardiac and thoracic surgery and the latest technology.
Cardiothoracic surgeries performed at Hollywood include:
- Beating heart coronary artery graft surgeries
- Minimally invasive coronary artery bypass graft surgeries
- Minimally invasive surgeries for ablation of atrial fibrillation, such as hybrid catheter and surgical ablation (HyCASA)
- Key hole left atrial clip occlusion with a device that does not require anticoagulation
- Right anterior mini thoracotomy and aortic valve replacement (RAT AVR)
Hollywood has become the biggest centre in Australasia for HyCASA.
Mr Joshi is the only surgeon in WA performing RAT AVR. The procedure enables patients to have their aortic valve replaced without an incision on their breastbone, often providing cosmetic benefits and a quicker recovery time. 1 2
There are plans in place for Hollywood to soon offer transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and mitral regurgitation treatment (MitraClip).
There are four cardiothoracic surgeons who work in the theatre regularly. Dr Justin Salimani is a trained transplant surgeon, which is helpful to deal with very sick patients with complex needs. Dr Kaushalendra Rathore has experience in beating heart bypass surgeries.
“The team brings together thousands of hours of heart surgery experience and capable of dealing with highly complex cardiac and thoracic surgeries,” Mr Joshi said.
Director of Medical Services John Maxwell said the cardiothoracic theatre was an asset for Hollywood.
“The cardiothoracic service means patients can be treated for their cardiac needs in one place,” Mr Maxwell said.
“Patients who present to our new emergency department with heart problems can have urgent heart surgery on campus if required.
“Hollywood is also the only private hospital in Perth with a multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation program, which is delivered by both nursing and allied health teams.
“The aim of this service is to help patients throughout their cardiac surgery recovery and features a cardiac rehabilitation nurse specialist, a cardiovascular clinical lead physiotherapist, an accredited exercise physiologist, a dietitian, an occupational therapist and a pharmacist.”
1 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25111633/
2 https://www.bjcvs.org/article/3724/en-US/aortic-valve-replacement-via-right-anterior-mini-thoracotomy--the-conventional-procedure-performed-through-a-smaller-incision
The Hollywood Private Hospital cardiothoracic team.