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Heart conditions can often be managed with medications and lifestyle changes. But if these treatments aren’t enough or if a heart condition is more severe, your doctor may recommend a procedure or surgery.
There are many types of heart surgery, ranging from minimally invasive procedures to open-heart surgery. This guide explains some of the most common options, what they’re used to treat, what happens during the procedure, and what you can expect during recovery.
When a heart valve becomes damaged, it’s best to either repair or replace it. Healthcare providers generally prefer repairs because this approach can preserve the heart tissue.
Heart valve surgery can either be minimally invasive or open, depending on the procedure. Many valves can now be fixed or even replaced using nonsurgical catheter-based procedures.
One type of repair is balloon valvuloplasty, which helps expand valves that have narrowed. This procedure can be performed through a catheter — a small tube inserted into a blood vessel and directed using an X-ray of the heart or blood vessel.
This approach is less intense than open-heart surgery and is often used to treat narrowing in the pulmonic valve, mitral valve, and aortic valve. Candidates for this procedure include:
During a balloon valvuloplasty, the surgeon makes a small incision and inserts a catheter with a balloon on the end. The catheter is maneuvered into the heart and placed in the valve, where the balloon is expanded. This step opens up the valve and allows more blood to flow through.
After surgery, you will stay in the hospital for observation and will be required to remain flat in bed for around two to six hours. You should drink plenty of fluids to flush the dye used during the procedure from your body. Depending on your health, you may spend the night in the hospital.
In addition to opening up narrowed valves, other types of repairs can be made to:
These procedures may be performed using classic open-heart surgeries or minimally invasive surgery or with a catheter, similar to a balloon valvuloplasty.
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) treats the narrowing of the heart’s arteries, caused by coronary artery disease (CAD). These blood vessels carry oxygen to the heart but become narrowed when fatty deposits cut off oxygen to the heart muscle.
CABG is used to treat the following people:
Both open-heart and minimally invasive procedures are used for this surgery. The open-heart procedure requires a large chest incision to get to the heart. To keep the heart pumping during surgery, it is hooked up to a heart-lung bypass machine.
A robotic CABG is performed with robotic assistance or through very small incisions. Sometimes this procedure uses bypass, other times it doesn’t. The minimally invasive approach is done off-pump and doesn’t use the bypass machine.
After surgery, you’ll stay in the ICU for a few days to be monitored. You’ll then move to another room in the hospital for several more days. You may also start a cardiac rehabilitation program while in the hospital to strengthen your heart. Overall, recovery takes between six to 12 weeks.
A heart transplant replaces a diseased heart with a healthy donor heart. Candidates for this procedure have end-stage heart failure and haven’t responded to other treatment options. With end-stage heart failure, the heart muscle can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.
This is an open-heart surgery that requires a heart-lung bypass machine to help circulate your blood while the old heart is taken out and the new one is put in. This is a serious surgery with a long recovery period.
After the procedure is complete, you’ll be monitored in the ICU for several days. After you’re moved to another room, you can expect to stay in the hospital for one to two weeks for recovery and rehabilitation.
Pacemakers help treat arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms). They use electrical signals to control or increase the heartbeat when the heart beats too slowly or irregularly.
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) work similarly to pacemakers. But they can detect severely abnormal heart rhythms.
After detecting a dangerous rhythm, these devices can shock the heart and correct the rhythm back to normal. Candidates for pacemakers and ICDs include those with dangerously fast heartbeats or people at high risk of heart attacks or heart failure.
Pacemakers and ICDs can be inserted via minor surgery. The surgeon creates a small incision in the chest, and the wires (known as leads) for the pacemaker or ICD are inserted through the veins in the chest and into the heart. Some newer devices don’t require leads in the heart.
Overall, the surgery can last one to five hours. Sometimes you will go home that day, or you may spend a few days in the hospital, depending on your procedure. But it will take several weeks for you to fully recover from the procedure.
If you have atrial fibrillation (AFib), your cardiologist may recommend a maze procedure. This involves creating a maze pattern of scar tissue on the heart. This pattern blocks the abnormal heart rhythms caused by AFib, while still allowing normal heart rhythms through.
This procedure can be performed using a minimally invasive small-incision procedure. Candidates for this surgery include:
The surgeon uses high-energy radio waves or cryoablation (extreme cold) to create the scar tissue maze. Part of the left side of the heart, or the left atrial appendage, may also be removed. This appendage may be responsible for 90 percent of blood clots in those with AFib.
After the surgery, you’ll stay in the ICU for a few days, then move to another hospital room for a few more days. The average time in the hospital is four to seven days. You’ll likely need to take blood thinners for a few months to help prevent blood clots.
If your heart isn’t pumping blood properly, medical devices may help. The total artificial heart (TAH) and ventricular assist device (VAD) both help pump blood from the ventricles (lower chambers of the heart) to the rest of the body.
A total artificial heart is a short-term treatment option while you’re waiting for a heart transplant. Meanwhile, a VAD may be used in people who aren’t eligible for a heart transplant or who’re experiencing heart failure.
Both the TAH and VAD require open-heart surgery for placement. Surgery for these devices can take between three to nine hours, depending on your case. After surgery, you will be in the ICU for monitoring.
With a TAH, you may spend about a month in the hospital and then will need to take it easy once you get home. With VAD, your time spent in the hospital recovering is based on your health before surgery. You may also need to be on a ventilator for a short period of time.
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I just had a ICD put in and I’m very dizzy
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I had my Aortic valve and artery changed also the Arch ,8 hour operation just over two years ago fully recovered no side effects. So stay positive
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