On the afternoon of April 15th, a seemingly routine yet profoundly significant heart surgery was underway at a hospital. The director of the Cardiac and Great Vessel Surgery department was performing a myocardial rotary resection procedure on a 60-year-old patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
On the operating table, the patient’s heart beat powerfully. Using a self-developed “myocardial rotary resection device,” the surgeon precisely removed the thickened heart muscle from the patient’s beating heart in just one hour. This marked the 1,500th successful surgery completed by the team using this world-first “myocardial rotary resection” technique.
After waking from anesthesia, the patient said, “It felt like taking a nap, and there’s not much pain.”
However, eight years ago, when the team chose to tackle the world-class challenge of “beating-heart myocardial resection,” they faced numerous obstacles. “From the initial spark of inspiration to refining the prototype, from animal experiments to clinical exploration, this project embodies the immense dedication of our entire team,” the surgeon reflected.
Eight years of perseverance finally led to a “highlight moment”—fundamentally changing the treatment landscape for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, achieving over 1,500 clinical surgeries with a 98.6% success rate, and attracting top global experts to learn the technique.
From “Pineapple Peeling” Inspiration to a World-First
Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy is an inherited cardiovascular disease and a leading cause of sudden death in athletes and young adults. Statistics indicate over 20 million patients globally, with conservative estimates ranging from 3 to 7 million.
Behind this vast patient population lies a treatment dilemma that remained unresolved for over 60 years. Previously, the standard treatment was the ventricular septal myectomy. This procedure required a 20-centimeter chest incision and was performed on a stopped heart using a heart-lung machine, making it highly difficult, risky, and requiring a slow recovery. It was also considered one of the most challenging surgeries for cardiac surgeons to master.
Confronted with these clinical challenges, the surgeon pondered for years: how could thickened heart muscle be removed without major invasive surgery? One weekend in 2018, while walking along a riverbank, he observed a fruit vendor peeling a pineapple—the blade pierced the core, rotated down, and the core was pulled out. “Could we mimic the principle of peeling a pineapple to create a surgical instrument with a rotary cutting function? One that enters the heart from the apex, removing the thickened muscle without opening the chest or stopping the heart?” A bold idea was born.
Action followed immediately. From patent applications and device design to prototype manufacturing, animal testing, ethical approvals, and clinical trials, a series of hurdles were overcome one by one. With collaborative support from the hospital’s clinical translation research institute and a provincial medical innovation and translation institute, and after seven iterations and over 40 detailed optimizations, the “myocardial rotary resection device” finally took shape.
At the hospital, one can see this “heart slimming marvel”—it consists of an inner tubular blade, an outer sheath tube, a side-axis puncture needle, and other components, all exquisitely crafted. During surgery, the rotary device enters the designated area through the heart’s apex. Under precise ultrasound guidance, the puncture needle is deployed to secure the myocardial tissue, the tubular blade is advanced to resect the tissue, and then the removed tissue is extracted from the heart.
Top Experts Reverse the Flow of Knowledge
The emergence of the “myocardial rotary resection” technique has not only sparked online discussion but also created waves in the international medical community.
In 2023, the team’s research findings were published, attracting significant attention. A globally renowned authority in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy surgery specially visited for an on-site visit, expressing that he was “deeply impressed.”
In March of this year, expert delegations from the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, representing the pinnacle of global cardiovascular diagnosis and treatment, visited consecutively. They spent a week observing surgeries and engaging in in-depth exchanges. A Mayo Clinic cardiomyopathy expert, after witnessing an 84-year-old patient being transferred out of the ICU the day after surgery, gave a thumbs-up: “After seeing it with my own eyes here, I believe it will become a new recommended and preferred method.”
On March 27th, the two major medical centers jointly announced the initiation of clinical validation for the beating-heart myocardial rotary resection technique.
