KEY POINTS:
Two patients who today became the first in New Zealand to successfully undergo innovative heart valve replacements were recovering tonight in intensive care at Waikato Hospital.
Noel Howard, 78, of Thames, was the first to have the operation, followed by 89-year-old Peg Robinson from Cambridge.
Mrs Robinson's three children were on hand to meet their mother when she came out of surgery, a little more than an hour after going in.
Both patients were likely to be transferred tomorrow to a ward, the hospital reported.
The procedures involved replacing a valve in the aortic artery through a small incision in the chest while the heart was still beating, rather than going up through an artery in the groin.
Ailsa Fleming, 86, was last week to be the first person in the southern hemisphere to have the procedure, but she died on the operating table due to a rare complication.
Her family today said they were glad the surgeons continued with the operations because it gave others the opportunity to have a better quality of life.
Aortic stenosis is the most prevalent heart valve disease in the western world, and about 120 patients with the condition visit Waikato Hospital each year.
The condition occurs when the main outflow valve from the heart thickens and does not open fully.
- NZPA
