Open Heart Surgery
Open heart surgery treats problems associated with the heart and the surrounding vessels. That includes heart failure, birth defects, abnormal heart rhythms, coronary artery disease, aneurysms, septal defects, heart valve replacement and others.
Board-certified cardiothoracic surgeons at Turkey Creek Medical Center are trained to provide patients suffering from heart disease with the best possible outcomes. This commitment to quality stems from our longstanding history of cardiac care.
What is open heart surgery?
Traditional cardiac surgery, or open heart surgery as it is often referred to, is performed by making a large incision, roughly 6-8”, in the chest to gain access to the heart. Once the heart is exposed, the heart is actually stopped and the patient is connected to a cardiopulmonary bypass (also called the heart-lung machine) machine that does the work of the heart and lungs to allow the surgeon to perform the surgery. This machine preserves the blood flow through the body during heart surgery, adding the necessary oxygen and nutrients. There are risks associated with the use of the heart-lung machine.
Types of Heart Surgery
The most common types of heart surgery performed by cardiovascular surgeons at Turkey Creek Medical Center are:
Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) - Surgical treatment for coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis. Here, we take a portion of a healthy blood vessel from somewhere else in the body and use it to create a new route around the blocked part of a blood vessel and into the heart. This process is also called revascularization because it brings blood flow back to the heart.- Heart valve procedures - Correct defective heart valves from stenosis (narrowing/blockage) or regurgitation (leaking). This type of surgery repairs defective heart valves. If we can’t repair the valve, we replace it with a donor, either a biological (human or animal) or mechanical (man-made) valve.
- Thoracic aortic procedures - Surgical treatment for all types of thoracic aortic conditions, including ascending and descending aneurysms.
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