A 55-year-old Indian resident of the UAE is recovering after cardiac surgeons in Dubai rebuilt the blood supply to his heart using only his own arteries, in a procedure that ranks among the most intricate bypass operations performed in the country.
The patient, Santokh Singh Ajit Singh, underwent a five-vessel coronary artery bypass at Aster Hospital, Al Qusais, during which the surgical team completed 11 separate connections between grafts and arteries. That number of anastomoses is unusually high and pushed the operation into rare technical territory, demanding detailed pre-surgical mapping and sustained precision across roughly eight hours in the operating room.
What set the case apart was the approach. Rather than stopping the heart or clamping the aorta, the surgeons worked on the organ while it continued beating and left the body’s largest blood vessel untouched. The method, known as total arterial anaortic revascularization, relies entirely on arterial grafts instead of the leg veins used in conventional bypass surgery. For suitable patients, arterial grafts tend to last longer, and steering clear of the aorta lowers the chance of a stroke linked to manipulating that vessel.
To build the new circulation routes, the team drew on three of the patient’s own arteries: the left and right internal mammary arteries and the left radial artery from the forearm. From these, they fashioned five bypasses and made the 11 precise connections needed to feed every blocked region of the heart muscle.
The route to surgery began when Singh came to the hospital reporting chest pain that spread to both shoulders and had persisted for close to a week. A coronary angiogram on May 25, 2026, exposed severe narrowing across several arteries feeding the heart. Physicians diagnosed advanced coronary artery disease with angina, a state in which fatty buildup progressively chokes the coronary arteries and starves the heart of blood. High cholesterol was identified as a key underlying risk factor.
Several of the arteries carried long stretches of hardened blockage, which complicated matters further once the operation was underway. To clear them, the team carried out coronary endarterectomy to strip out the calcified plaque, then rebuilt and widened the damaged vessels using arterial patch reconstruction so blood could pass freely.
The operation took place on June 2, 2026. Singh stayed stable throughout and afterward, and his recovery proceeded without complications.
Dr. Sandeep Srivastava, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at the hospital, described the difficulty of the case. “This was one of the most technically demanding bypass surgeries we have performed due to the patient’s extensive coronary artery disease. We completed a five-vessel bypass on a beating heart with 11 different forms of arterial connections using patient’s own arteries, while also removing plaque and reconstructing severely diseased vessels. Successfully performing such a complex procedure without stopping the heart or manipulating the aorta reflects the advanced cardiac expertise now available at Aster Hospital Al Qusais,” he said.
For Singh, the experience turned from dread into relief. “When I learned I needed such a complex heart surgery, I was naturally anxious. The doctors explained every step of the treatment, which gave me confidence and reassurance. I am grateful to Dr. Sandeep Srivastava, Dr. Shipra Srivastava, and the entire team at Aster Hospital Al Qusais for their expertise and compassionate care. I am recovering well and thankful to have received such advanced treatment here in Dubai,” he said.
His surgeon Dr. Shipra Srivastava framed the case as evidence of where cardiac care is heading. “Modern heart surgery is focused on delivering safer procedures with better long-term outcomes. By performing the surgery on a beating heart and avoiding manipulation of the aorta, we minimised potential complications of stroke while achieving complete restoration of blood flow. This case demonstrates that patients with even the most complex coronary artery disease can access advanced cardiac care and excellent outcomes here in Dubai,” she said.
The context behind such cases is stark. Cardiovascular disease remains the world’s leading killer, tied to an estimated 17.9 million deaths each year, and in the UAE, heart attacks and strokes account for roughly 41 percent of all deaths, a figure that keeps early diagnosis and specialized surgical options firmly in focus.
