What Is Heart Surgery?

Heart surgery is done to correct problems with the heart. More than half a million heart surgeries are done each year in the United States for a variety of heart problems.

 

 

The most common type of heart surgery for adults is coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). During CABG, surgeons use healthy arteries or veins taken from another part of the body to bypass blocked arteries. CABG relieves chest pain and reduces the risk of heart attack.

 

Heart surgery also is done to:

 

Traditional heart surgery, often called open-heart surgery, is done by opening the chest wall to operate on the heart. Almost always, the chest is opened by cutting through a patient's breastbone.

 

Once the heart is exposed, the patient is connected to a heart-lung bypass machine. The machine takes over the pumping action of the heart. This allows surgeons to operate on a still heart.

 

Other ways to do heart surgery also have been developed. One way is called off-pump, or beating heart, surgery. It's like traditional open-heart surgery, but it doesn't use a heart-lung bypass machine.

 

Another type of surgery called minimally invasive heart surgery uses smaller incisions than traditional open-heart surgery. Some types of minimally invasive heart surgery use a heart-lung bypass machine and others don't.

 

These nontraditional methods may reduce risks and speed up recovery time. Studies are under way to compare these types of heart surgery with traditional open-heart surgery. The results of these studies will help doctors decide the best procedure to use for each patient.

 

Outlook

The results of heart surgery in adults often are excellent. Heart surgery can reduce symptoms, improve quality of life, and increase lifespan.

 

To understand heart surgery, it's helpful to know how a normal heart works. Go to the DCI article on How the Heart Works for more information.

 

 

"Thanks for supporting the fight against heart disease"

 

Key Points

• Heart surgery is done to correct problems with the heart. More than half a million heart surgeries are done each year in the United States for a variety of heart problems.

 

• The most common type of heart surgery in adults is coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). During CABG, surgeons use healthy arteries or veins taken from another part of the body to bypass (that is, go around) blocked arteries.

 

• Heart surgery also is done to repair or replace valves that control blood flow through the heart, repair structures in the heart, implant devices to regulate heart rhythms or support heart function and blood flow, or replace a damaged heart with a healthy heart from a donor.

 

• Traditional open-heart surgery is done by opening the chest wall to operate on the heart. The patient is connected to a heart-lung bypass machine. This machine takes over the pumping action of the heart, makes sure the blood gets enough oxygen, and allows surgeons to operate on a still heart.

 

• Other ways to do heart surgery also have been developed. One way is off-pump, or beating heart, surgery. This is like traditional open-heart surgery, but it doesn't use a heart-lung bypass machine.

 

• Minimally invasive heart surgery uses smaller incisions (cuts) than traditional open-heart surgery.

 

• Some types of minimally invasive heart surgery use a heart-lung bypass machine and others don't.

 

• Studies are under way to compare nontraditional methods of heart surgery with traditional heart surgery.

 

• Various types of heart surgery are used to fix various heart problems. Heart surgery is used to bypass blocked arteries, repair or replace heart valves, treat arrhythmias, repair aneurysms, treat angina, and replace a diseased heart with a healthy one.

 

• Heart surgery is used to treat people who have severe heart diseases and conditions when other treatments have failed.

 

• Your doctors will work with you to decide whether you need heart surgery based on the kind of heart problem you have, your history and past treatment for heart problems, your family's history of heart problems, whether you have other health conditions, your age, and your general health.

 

• What happens before, during, and after heart surgery depends on the type of surgery you have.

 

• CABG, the most common type of heart surgery, usually takes 3 to 5 hours and requires 6–12 weeks of recovery.

 

• After surgery, your doctor will let you know how to care for yourself. You may need followup medical care, lifestyle changes, medicines, or cardiac rehabilitation.

 

• The risks of heart surgery include bleeding, infection, fever, a reaction to the medicine used to temporarily put you to sleep, irregular heartbeats, and death.Use of a heart-lung bypass machine can cause blood clots to form in your blood vessels and block blood flow.

 

• The results of heart surgery often are excellent. Heart surgery can reduce symptoms, improve quality of life, and increase lifespan.