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Many people are still unsure about the benefits and risks of open heart surgery. Open heart surgery is a surgical procedure in which the surgeon cuts through the breastbone to gain access to your heart. Open-heart or “cardiac” surgeries are performed when you have a heart disease in your coronary arteries, heart muscle. This kind of cardiovascular surgery can prevent a heart attack. In this article we also will discuss about open heart surgery recovery.
The most common beating heart surgeries are bypass grafting (coronary artery bypass surgery), or cardiac valves replacement. Open heart surgery can be done using either a traditional approach where your chest is cut open (while you are connected to a heart lung bypass machine)or by using keyhole surgery techniques known as minimally invasive cardiac procedures (MICS). Each option has its pros and cons so it’s important to know what they are before making any decisions on how you want this type of operation done. Speak to your cardiologist to understand better your options !
Why it’s done?
Open heart surgery is usually performed when a person has an issue with their coronary arteries or the vessels that supply blood to their heart. Traditional heart surgery can be done with minimally invasive techniques or traditional approaches. The surgeon performs this operation under certain circumstances:
– Coronary artery disease (CAD)
– Heart attack
– Mitral valve prolapse
– Congenital heart defects
– Blocked artery in the heart
– Typically performed when someone has had a previous cardiac surgery that did not work out as planned
What happens during open-heart surgery?
Open heart surgery necessitates the use of a respirator by the anesthesiologist to regulate your breathing. The surgeon makes an 8- to 10-inch incision in your chest. After, the sternal bone will be cut with a unique bone saw by the surgeon. The surgeon removes all or part of the patient’s breastbone to expose the heart. This is the off pump procedure
Heart Lung bypass machine
Once the heart is visible, the patient may be connected to a heart-lung machine by a perfusionist (a certified nurse who has undergone cardiac surgery training) ensures that blood is supplied to the heart during the operation. The machine moves blood away from the heart so that the surgeon can operate.
Cardiac Valve repalcement
The surgeon replaces an old valve with a new one (mechanical or biological)
Coronary artery bypass graft
During coronary artery bypass surgery, The cardiac surgeon (heart surgeon) utilizes a healthy vein or artery to create a new route around the clogged vessel. Finally, the surgeon uses wire to close the breastbone from the inside, and the original cut is closed.
Recovery in the intensive care unit
During this type of cardio thoracic surgery, hospital stay typically ranges from five to 11 days. After your recovery from the general anesthesia; the healthcare team will retire the breathing tube, they also will retire the chest tubes from your chest wall, and will give you blood thinners.
How do I prepare for open heart surgery?
There are several tests that your cardiology will have you complete before traditional heart surgery. Open-heart procedures typically require specific preoperative testing to determine whether the patient is healthy enough for an operation, and if so, what type of anesthesia should be used.
Patients who smoke must quit smoking at least six weeks before major surgery because nicotine can increase bleeding during and after a coronary bypass surgery.
You’ll need a chest x-ray taken within three days before the procedure to check for any problems with the lungs.
You will also need an electrocardiogram and an ecocardiogram to calculate the LVEF
Every patient over the age of 45 should have a cardiac catheterization. The dye may be injected into your coronary arteries via a catheter (thin tube) for X-ray pictures during this operation. Coronary angiography will be done within 24 hours before (in the preoperative period).
If you have diabetes, your blood sugar level must be well controlled before surgery to reduce the risk of having a stroke or other problems during and after the operation.
This surgery requires fasting before anesthesia induction.
You’ll need to remove all jewelry and false teeth before going into surgery because these items may interfere with the procedure and put you at an increased risk for infection.
You should also avoid wearing makeup on the day of your open-heart surgery; again this could increase your chances of developing an eye infection while in hospital care.
Types of surgery
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
The most common type of heart surgery is coronary artery bypass (CABG), also know as bypass surgery or coronary bypass surgery. For this surgery is needed a heart-lung machine (on pump surgery). The surgeon takes a healthy artery or vein from your legs and connects it to supply blood past the blocked portion of the coronary vasculature. This makes sure that more oxygen-rich blood can flow through them, helping with healing after blockages occur due to high cholesterol levels among other things like plaque buildup on vessel walls which leads to clogging up progression!
Heart valve repair or replacement.
In this heart disease, the patient has heart valves problems. Your heart valve will be replaced with a mechanical valve or a valve made from human heart, pig or cow tissue.
There are two options for repair: either fixing the damage with surgery or replacing it. Surgeons may opt to use one of several types of valves depending on their diagnosis – usually they’ll try and get whatever best suits each patient’s condition because no matter what type is chosen everything can’t always bring back healthy cells lost during procedures like these!
Insertion of a pacemaker
This kind of surgical treatment is common for arrhythmia, the condition in which people’s hearts beat too fast, slow, or erratically. If medication does not work to regulate this rhythm problem then it may be necessary to implant a device under your skin. These devices use electrical pulses from wires connected directly into heart chambers-and they’re called “pacemakers”
Maze surgery.
In the case of Maze Surgery, a pattern is created within the heart’s upper chambers which can be used to redirect electrical signals along controlled paths. The surgeon creates this scar tissue to block atrial fibrillation -a type of arrhythmia that occurs when stray electric currents are going through one’s system and causing irregular heartbeat patterns.
Aneurysm Repair:
During this repair, the surgeon will actually remove an artery’s bulging section and replace it with a healthy blood vessel or other material like fabric to make sure there isn’t any more bleeding. There are three different ways of performing such surgery: endovascular (invasive), open surgical abdominal, and thoracic (cardiovascular).
Heart transplant.
In the case of a heart transplant, your dysfunctional heart will be removed and replaced with another person’s healthy one. This is usually reserved for people who have severe cardiomyopathy or cardiac conditions that do not permit survival without this procedure being performed.
If you take any medications regularly before surgery to control blood pressure, diabetes, thyroid
Insertion of a ventricular assist device (VAD) or total artificial heart (TAH).
This is reserved for people suffering from end-stage heart failure. A pump known as a ventricular assist device (VAD) will be inserted into their body to help circulate blood flow more efficiently than it would without one. It’s also possible that a total artificial heart may be used in the case of VAD complications
Risks of open heart surgery
Open-heart surgeries are generally safe but they do come with some risks. These include bleeding, problems related to anesthesia or drugs used during the operation, blood clots in your legs or lungs that cause a pulmonary embolism (PE), stroke, infection at the incision site where doctors make an entry into the chest, kidney failure, problems with your heart’s rhythm.
Conditions treated with open heart surgery
Open-heart surgeries are performed on people who have conditions that may increase their risks of heart diseases, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
Coronary bypass surgery is another alternative to treat heart attacks and blockages of arteries. This is known as coronary bypass operation.
Open-heart surgeries are also used to treat heart valve disease, irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias), aneurysms in the aorta.
Chest pain from aortic an aneurysm.
Open-heart surgery is sometimes used to treat congenital heart defects that are found in infants. Some of these conditions include congenital coronary artery disease, tetralogy of Fallot, transposition of the great arteries, and patent ductus arteriosus (congenital heart disease).
What procedures are performed during open heart surgery?
- Valve repair or replacement
- Insertion of a pacemaker
- Insertion of a ventricular assist device (VAD) or total artificial heart (TAH)
- Heart transplant
- Insertion of a pacemaker
- Aneurysm repair
- Coronary bypass surgery
What happens after open heart surgery?
Open-heart surgery is a serious procedure, which means you’ll need to spend time recovering in the hospital or other medical center. You may stay there for several days depending on your doctor’s recommendations and whether complications arise after the coronary artery bypass grafting.
When you are discharged home, it will be with special instructions from your physician that detail what activities are safe for you to undertake. This will help you to have a better open heart surgery recovery. Even if everything went well, you must avoid strenuous activities for several weeks after the surgery. You should also expect your normal daily routine to take longer than usual because of fatigue and weakness while recovering from the procedure.
Open heart surgery recovery:
Post-op care consists of monitoring your condition to ensure no complications have arisen since surgery. This might involve regular appointments with your doctor, home care nurses coming to check on you if necessary, and tests being conducted at the office or nearby facility where you had surgery. You can expect this process to continue for months after open-heart surgery has been completed because it takes a while for you to recover from such major physical trauma as having your chest opened.
What is recovery like after open heart surgery?
Recovery from open-heart surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting) is a long process and one that requires you to take things slowly. It can be hard to know what to expect after this surgery, particularly the recovery process.
Recovery from open-heart surgery takes months. Sometimes you have to make some changes. But if you have minimally invasive surgery, it will take less time for your recovery. Doctors can fix your heart with only small cuts on the chest instead of one large cut on the chest which means less pain and a faster recovery time than traditional
If you’re considering minimally invasive cardiac surgery, get in touch with our cardiology department now! They’ll set up a meeting for you so that they can examine your situation and determine whether this kind of therapy is appropriate for you.