LARGO, Fla. — HCA Florida Largo Hospital recently performed a first in Florida procedure — saving a woman’s life by removing a tumor from her heart without doing open heart surgery. 

What You Need To Know

  • HCA Florida Largo Hospital is the first hospital in Florida to remove a tumor from inside a patient's heart successfully, without open heart surgery

  • Dr. Saurabh Sanon led the cardiovascular cath lab team at HCA Florida Largo Hospital in performing what is called the SEATTLE procedure

  • Patient Esther Whitley had a tumor inside her heart

  • Dr. Sanon and team inserted a retrieval device via a blood vessel in the patient’s groin to remove the tumor

It is called the SEATTLE procedure, which stands for The Simplified Extraction of Atrial Tumor with Targeted Loop Electricity.

The patient, Ester Whitley, said she had been feeling weak and tired for months when she first visited her cardiologist in 2023. 

“He did some testing, and he came back and he said, it is not good,” said Whitley. 

She is 86 and admits heart problems run in the family. 

“My mother had heart problems, my daddy did too. I am the youngest of five children, and I think every last one of them have some kind of — well, the ones who are still living — have some kind of heart problem,” said Whitley. 

But hers may top them all, because along with a mitral valve leak in her heart, doctors found a tumor. At 86, that might as well have been a death sentence. 

“I am too old for open heart surgery,” said Whitely. “So, I am absolutely thrilled that Dr. Sanon had this thing ready to go, and just needed a patient.”

Dr. Saurabh Sanon, Regional Medical Director of Structural Heart Therapies HCA West Florida, shared a new way to remove tumors. However, it has only been performed a handful of times in the U.S. and never in Florida.

“You see that bouncing back and forth, that is the tumor that was present in the right side of the heart,” he said, pointing to the tumor on a screen in his Largo office.

“Part of our challenge of treating Esther’s leaking mitral valve was to first remove this tumor. Again in a non-surgical fashion, and then proceed to the second stage of the procedure which as treating the mitral valve itself,” Dr. Sanon said.

He thought to try the SEATTLE procedure to remove the tumor and then fix the mitral valve leak. 

To get out the tumor first, Dr. Sanon and his team used telescoping catheters, including one that had a small ONO basket attached and two snares. 

Through a vein in Whitley’s right leg, Dr. Sanon went into her heart, grasped the tumor and safely removed it with cauterization. 

“So the key here is to remove the tumor in a very clean, safe, effective fashion while capturing it in this basket and exteriorizing it, all without stopping the heart, or requiring open heart surgery,” Sanon explained. 

It was a success, which allowed her to have a second procedure to fix her mitral valve in January. 

“If there was leakage, you would see leakage over here, but this shows none. So this shows the repair that has been done on her mitral valve using the mitral clip devices,” he explained.  

This success means a lot for Florida, and for patients who cannot undergo open heart surgery. 

“It is not about me. I am glad that I can tell people about it. I wish some of my relatives had had the opportunity,” said Whitley. 

She is grateful for the ingenuity and the small daily wins now that the surgery is behind her.  

“I am getting stronger every day. I made a major trip to the grocery store on Saturday. I have been to church twice now,” said Whitley.