What is open heart surgery?

Introduction

There are many heart surgeries done every year and amongst them 90 % are successful. The recent study tells that most of the heart problems occur due to stress and tensions. If the problem is serious then the heart or cardiac surgery is conducted. For more details see the open heart PowerPoint slides on www.slideworld.org.

What is open heart surgery ?

Open heart surgery is any surgery of heart and it is done by opening or cutting the chest and then the heart surgery is performed on the heart muscle, valves, arteries and by the cardiac or heart surgery. The word “open” refers to the cutting of chest while the surgery is in progress.

A heart-lung machine (also called cardiopulmonary bypass) is used during open heart surgery. While the doctor works upon the heart, the machine provides oxygen-rich blood to the brain and other important organs of the patient’s body. The machine is just as the temporary replacement of the heart while surgery is under process. See the open heart surgery ppt for more information on it.

The cutting of chest is the traditional approach or technique in performing open heart surgery. This is replaced by the newer techniques. Newer techniques of heart surgery are as follows:-

·         2 to 5-inch-long surgical cut in the chest wall are done when the surgery is performed and then doctor replace the valves. Muscles of the heart are divided so that the surgery can be performed.

·         Endoscopic surgery- one to four small holes in patient’s chest are done. Then he uses special instruments and a camera to perform the surgery.

·         Robot-assisted valve surgery- Two to four tiny cuts (about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch) in the patient’s chest are done and a special computer is used to control robotic arms during the surgery. A three-dimensional view of the surgery on the computer is viewed by the surgeon for better results.

These techniques don’t use the heart-lung machine instead the heart rate is reduced by medicines or mechanical device. For more on open heart surgery see the open heart surgery PowerPoint presentation.