Doctors in surgery.

The patient gives thumbs up with her doctors after the surgery.

Local medical experts announced the success of conducting minimally invasive surgery on a woman with a rare type of congenital heart disease through acupuncture anesthesia.

The 38-year-old woman suffered repeated sudden chest pain over the past two years and failed to get a definitive diagnosis after visiting several different hospitals around the country.

She was diagnosed with aortic sinus aneurysm after the severity and frequency of her pain increased over the past six months. Hospitals in her hometown in Jiangsu Province told her it was a risky condition, which could be fatal if an artery burst. They suggested an open-chest surgery as soon as possible.

The patient came to Dr Zhou Jia of the Shanghai Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for help.

The patient's artery had begun to break and immediate action was necessary, local doctors said after check.

"A timely surgery is a must. Aortic sinus aneurysm is a rare congenital heart disease and its usual treatment is open-chest surgery," Zhou said. "But the patient's leakage on the aneurysm was small and It's located away from other major arteries. It is a chance for minimally invasive surgery, which imposes much less trauma to the patient."

There are few precedents for this kind of surgery in the nation and it is very challenging surgery for doctors, Zhou said.

"It is also the first such surgery in our hospital," he said.

As a hospital featuring both Western and traditional Chinese medicine, doctors decided to make full use of the two types of medical approaches to bring about the best outcome.

Acupuncture anesthesia was introduced during the surgery, which allows doctors to perform surgery without conducting tracheal intubation and helps patients better endure the procedure, suffering less trauma and potential complications from anesthesia with a quicker recovery period.

Yueyang, a national leader in acupuncture anesthesia, uses the method in nearly 2,000 heart and lung surgeries every year at its heart center.

The patient recovered quickly and was discharged two days after surgery.