• In 1964, the Department of Surgery took over the Thoracic Surgical Units at The Grantham Hospital (GH) in 1966.
• 11^th December, 1964: The first open-heart operation in Hong Kong was performed by Professor GB Ong at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) on a female patient with patent ductus arteriosis, pulmonary valve stenosis and atrial septal defect (ASD) under hypothermic circulatory arrest.
• 1966-69: Drs KH Kwong and John Leung underwent open-heart surgery training overseas. Practise of cardiopulmonary bypass in animals started at GH in 1967/68.
• 30^th July, 1968: The first open heart surgery performed in The Grantham Hospital. Dr. KH Kwong assisted Dr. Lester Bryant, an American cardiac surgeon from Lexington, Kentucky, to close an ASD in a 17-year-old girl with cardiopulmonary bypass.
• 16^th September, 1975: The first neonatal survivor in Hong Kong after open heart surgery: a 2-month-old girl who underwent VSD & ASD closure.
• 1978: Cardiac catherization laboratory was established at GH.
• 1992: The first heart transplantation in Hong Kong. The recipient remains in good health till this day.
• 1995: The first single lung transplantation and the first heart-lung transplantation were performed.
• 1996: Off pump coronary artery bypass grafting and minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) introduced.
• 1997: The first double-lung transplantation was performed.
• 2000: Extracoporeal membrane oxygenation support for paediatric patients started.
• 2004 The first successful implantation of the Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) in Hong Kong using the Berlin Heart Device in a 7-year-old boy with acute fulminant myocarditis.
• June 2008: The Cardiothoracic Surgical Unit and Paediatric Cardiac Unit at Grantham Hospital (GH) was relocated to Queen Mary Hospital, providing state-of the-art multidisciplinary care to patients in three OT suites, 16 cardiothoracic ICU beds and 60+ step-down beds.
• 2010: Successful implantation of the first fully implantable LVAD (Heartmate II) in a 30 year old adult with end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy, kick starting the LVAD program in Queen Mary Hospital.

Queen Mary Hospital provides the largest number of open heart surgery annually in Hong Kong.

The Division has adopted minimal and less invasive cardiac surgery since 1996, starting with OPCABG and MIDCABG. In recent years, with the adoption of new instrumentations, training and innovations, minimal and less invasive open heart surgery has became an integral part of our surgical repertoire. We offer minithoracotomy and hemisternotomy as surgical approaches for single valve replacement and repair, closure of atrial septal defect and mitral valve repair.

We routinely offer surgical radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing open heart surgeries.

We are early adopters in Asia of the endoscopic vein harvesting (EVH) and endoscopic radial artery harvesting (ERAH) technique for coronary artery bypass grafting. These techniques are now routinely used and continues to decrease morbidity and enhance quality-of-life in our CABG patients.

For quality assurance and monitoring of clinical outcome, the division has collaborated with other centres in Hong Kong in prospective clinical data collection using the Dendrite Clincal Database system. In 2013 we have published our first biannual report on outcome of adult heart surgery in Queen Mary Hiospital.

• The demand of minimally invasive surgery is climbing in recent years.
• With the advance of technology, Queen Mary Hospital started minimally invasive approach for various kind of surgery since 2006. Some of them became routine approach nowadays.
• Minimal invasive cardiac surgery means surgery without a full median sternotomy as in traditional approach. Examples are mini-thoracotomy, hemi-sternotomy and para-sternal thoracotomy.
• Operations can be performed via minimally invasive approach:
  • Mitral valve repair or replacement
  • Aortic valve replacement
  • Tricuspid valve repair or replacement
  • Maze procedure (atrial ablation for atrial fibrillation)
  • Congential disease such as atrial septal defect (ASD), ventricular septal defect (VSD)
  • Myxoma excision
  • Leg vein or arm artery harvest for coronary artery bypass graft
  • Combination of above surgery
• Benefits of MICS
  1. Early resume of normal activities
  • Average 5weeks earlier resume work compared to sternotomy
  2. Less wound infection
  • Virtually no serious infective wound complications. And minor infection is much less common
  3. Less pain and shorter hospital stay
  • Stable bony structure means less pain during mobilization. In general patient able to go home earlier
  4. Better cosmetics
  5. Less transfusion and bleeding
• Patients may NOT suitable for MICS
  • Advance age
  • Poor lung function
  • Poor heart function
  • Peripheral vascular disease
  • Extreme body size
  • Previous chest or heart surgery
  • Require coronary artery bypass graft
• The technology and experience are growing in Queen Mary Hospital and worldwide. We expect more patients will benefits from minimal invasive approach in future.