This is a 47-year-old man whose identity we shall conceal. He was diagnosed with a Cardiac Arrest known as Coronary Artery disease which many refer to as a heart attack. His heart blood vessels due to accumulated fat plates. “We have been opening the chest and also at the same time be harvesting a vein from the leg.” He has to be operated on well for his heart to function well without any predicament. The operation will be in three stages and will take about 6 – 8 hours.

William Manyira the Lead Surgeon Adult Surgery has started by splitting the chest to access the heart. Meanwhile, Tom Mwambu the Unit Head Adult Surgery is extracting a vein from a left leg that will replace the blocked vein in the heart. “It is to make sure that there is no hole in it. So that we usually have to test to make sure that we got no leak because it is going to carry a very high pressure on the heart. We will divide it on the heart as we measure, when we put the first end, we will measure the length the heart and then cut off the next piece and then see how it fits the other side.” Said, Dr. Tom Mwambu – Unit Head, Adult Surgery.

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) develops when the major blood vessels that supply the heart will blood, oxygen and nutrients become damaged or diseased. CAD is caused by obesity, high blood cholesterol levels and smoking among other factors. The symptoms include chest pain and shortness of breath. However, when the coronary artery is completely blocked, one may experience a heart attack. “We intend to use one artery graft at the chest and the total length is equivalent to two vein grafts from the leg to be able to bypass the blocks on the heart.”
This man was exposed to high-fat levels in the blood which resulted in a fat deposition in the blood vessels. This is the first own surgery by Uganda’s own professional doctors after the purchase of the Left Internal Mammary Artery at the start of this year.