ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – A UW Health heart surgeon brings advanced healthcare to the Rockford region, specializing in procedures not often seen in the area.
Dr. Ghulam Murtaza, cardiothoracic surgeon, recently opened up his practice in Northern Illinois at the UW Heart Hospital. His practice uses a robotic system to perform a variety of endoscopic heart surgeries.
“It’s a massive leap in our advancement in the surgical care we can provide now,” Murtaza said.
For the last 15 years, Murtaza has been in Wisconsin. He trained at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee then moved to Madison where he practiced for 10 years. During that time, he became one of five surgeons in the U.S. who perform Total Endoscopic Coronary Artery Bypass (TECAB).
“Over the years, we have tried to tease out and figure out if we can address majority of ailments of the heart, if they can be fixed without opening the chest,” Murtaza explained.
Now, heart procedures can be done without opening the chest, offering patients a less invasive alternative to traditional open-heart surgery through TECAB.
“So, the robot is like a mini crane. You have to make small incisions along the side of the chest wall instead of opening the chest. You go in with these tools that are a foot or two long and it has really tiny arms at it’s tip,” said Murtaza, explaining how the robotic system works.
But the robot does not act alone. It must be controlled by a highly skilled surgeon and his team.
“Then you can go inside the heart and repair whatever repair needs to be done,” Murtaza said.
When talking about the robotic system’s benefits, Murtaza explained open-heart surgery poses many risks and recovery times can be extensive. The robotic system reduces both of those problems.
“You have a better survival, better repair, and a better operation if you were to use the robot versus if you did it open,” Murtaza explained.
Yes, you do need to qualify to be a candidate for the robotic procedure, as some heart ailments can only be fixed through open-heart surgery. But, Dr. Murtaza believes the quality of the surgery is higher with the robotic system.
“We are trying to do more precise operations with the robot,” Murtaza said.
The program has launched at the UW Heart Hospital and several robotic procedures have already taken place.
Murtaza says anyone experiencing heart ailments that is being considered for surgical care, to make sure to ask or look into doing it in the minimally invasive fashion, the robotic system.
More information on Dr. Ghulam Murtaza and the robotic procedure can be found here.
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