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    Scalpel, check, oxygen, check, Twitter account? Doctors live-tweet open heart surgery in world first

    By Adam Parris-Long | Yahoo! News – Thu, Feb 23, 2012

    Surgeons operating on a patient having a coronary bypass tweeted the entire two-hour procedure in a world first.

    The unnamed 57-year-old man going under the knife had more than 5,000 people following every incision during the operation which took place at the Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas.

    The 57-year-old patient wheeled in for the first live tweeted coronary bypass.

    The micro-blogging service has in the past seen women tweet as they give birth and astronauts beam out messages from space but this is the first time this has happened during surgery.

    Followers were given more than 100 detailed tweets, images and videos as surgeons carried out the delicate operation.

    Dr Michael Macris, who carried out the procedure even wore a headcam to film the entire procedure. 

    Complex medical terminology was explained by Dr Paresh Patel who fired out the updates as Dr Macris set to work.

    Job well done: surgeons complete the two-hour procedure.

    The updates spanned the procedure right from the patient’s arrival in theatre to the successful conclusion, to which Dr Patel tweeted: “The patient is now closed and ready for recovery room". The procedure was carried out to raise awareness for Heart Month.

    Highlights of the surgery twittercast can be found here.
     

    9 comments

    • lewis
      lewis  •  3 months ago
      well if i ever end up in having open heart surgery id rather the surgeon be focusing on my heart 100% rather than keep stopping to type stuff on twitter
      • Inja K
        Inja K 3 months ago
        this is actually tremendously useful - this surgeon has brought a complicated and scary procedure that is commonly performed on many people in the UK to the masses and explained what it's all about and what is happening. kudos to him for doing it.
    • Dereda
      Dereda  •  Edinburgh, Scotland  •  3 months ago
      There is a time and a place for every thing and performing open heart surgery is neither the time or place for posting messages on twitter.
      • Matt B
        Matt B 3 months ago
        I don't use Facebook or twitter as most people just Talk rubbish between their friends. If they done more stuff like this I might join. You get to learn new information that is interesting. Not, 'I just woke up and ate a apple'.
    • berna
      berna  •  Nairobi, Kenya  •  3 months ago
      So, was the doc giving instructions on what to be tweeted or doing it himself? I can only hope that someone else was typing because otherwise it can be quite odd.
    • Ade
      Ade  •  Dagenham, England  •  3 months ago
      I suppose there was another staff doing that not the Doctor.
    • JOHN
      JOHN  •  Manchester, England  •  3 months ago
      from Johns wife.Did the patient give permission ?.
    • Hedgehogs in the Mist
      Hedgehogs in the Mist  •  3 months ago
      Just sad.
    • Effy Desmarais
      Effy Desmarais  •  3 months ago
      How comforting for the patient... :|
    • Iluminati E
      Iluminati E  •  3 months ago
      i think its a good idea.. might take the fear out of having operations like this done..
    • Ann
      Ann  •  3 months ago
      ah have a heart
     Post a comment
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