Palestinian surgeon uses laser technology to disconnect pacemaker

Hamdi Farouk al-Farra performed the procedure at the Giessen University Hospital in Germany A Palestinian cardiac surgeon has successfully used laser technology to disconnect a pacemaker from a patient's heart, avoiding open-heart surgery on a patient with medical complications.  Speaking from the Marburg and Giessen University Hospital in Germany, Hamdi Farouk al-Farra said the procedure was performed on a 70-year-old cardiac patient who, years after being fitted with a pacemaker, suffered a heart infection that made it necessary to disconnect the device from the patient's heart.
 "The patient was in a very bad condition and wouldn't have survived the usual open-heart surgery, it was necessary to find a more innovative and less invasive method to save the patient's life and remove the faulty pacemaker," said al-Farra.
 Al-Farra and his team of surgeons at the hospital used laser technology to make a small incision that enabled them to completely disconnect the pacemaker from the patient's heart.
 The procedure took an hour to perform and the patient was discharged from hospital after a relatively short period. He was in good health and suffered no complications.
 The surgeon said performing the new procedure requires close cooperation between the leading surgeon and his team as well as a well-equipped hospital "so that everyone's ready for the worst possible scenario."
Al-Farra also believes the procedure may save lives by helping reduce risky open-heart surgery on elderly patients and those with underlying medical conditions.