What are the different types of heart surgery?
Well, what do we mean by heart surgery?
For many people, Heart Surgery refers to a surgical procedure which replaces blocked coronary arteries with veins surgically removed from the lower extremities of a patient. The general procedure involves placing the patient on a heart bypass machine to keep blood flowing through the patient’s body. Then, the surgeon performs surgery on the non-beating, resting heart of the patient. After the surgery, the heart patient’s quality of life is greatly improved.
However, there are variations to this general description of heart surgery. In order to fix the many different heart problems a patient may experience, medical science has researched and performed numerous types of heart surgeries.
Below is the brief description of each type of major heart surgery:
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: It is also abbreviated as CABG and is one of the most common types of heart surgeries. CABG is usually performed on a person with a serious coronary artery disease (CAD).
With coronary artery disease, a fatty material referred to as ‘Plaque’ accumulates inside the coronary arteries of a patient, which then blocks the arteries and reduces the flow of blood in the heart muscle. These blockages are dangerous because they reduce blood flow and also can become dislodged and enter the blood stream. These blockages can then travel into the heart and lungs to create an aneurism or more serious blockage.
In this type of heart surgery, a surgeon usually takes an artery or a vein from the leg, chest or any other body part of a patient. He then grafts or connects them (veins /arteries) with the blocked artery. With this, the CABG helps to bypass the blockage. The surgeon can bypass a maximum of four blocked coronary arteries during the same surgery.
Transmyocardial Laser Revascularization (TLR): This type of heart surgery is usually carried out to treat angina, or a lack of blood to the heart muscle. TLR heart surgery is performed when all the other non-surgical treatment options have failed.
In this type of heart surgery, the surgeon uses laser technology to make channels to improve circulation within the heart muscle. These channels in turn allow the blood to flow directly from the heart chambers into the heart muscle.
Valve Repair /Replacement: Heart valves are responsible for maintaining blood flow in a specific direction. Each valve comprises of a set of flaps known as ‘Leaflets’. These leaflets open to allow blood to pass directly into the arteries from heart chambers. Thereafter, the leaflets close firmly to stop blood from flowing back into the heart chambers. These leaflets work similarly to airline security checkpoints at the airport. You are only supposed to go one direction through them, and if you try to go the other direction then many problems ensue.
Valve repair heart surgery aims to repair and reopen closed leaflets. The leaflets get closed due to the valve fusing with the wall of the heart; which ultimately results in a reduced flow of blood from the valves into the arteries.
To overcome this problem, surgeons usually carry out valve repair or replacement. These replacement valves are composed of human or animal tissue, or several types of man-made plastics, polymers, ceramics, and other substances.
Aneurysm Repair: An aneurysm refers to the abnormal bulging in the heart muscle or in the walls of the artery. Aneurysms usually occur in the left-most heart chamber. With the passage of time, aneurysms can grow worse and burst, leading to internal bleeding. It may also result in an acute heart attack.
In order to overcome this problem, surgeons usually carry out a surgery to replace the weaker sections of the artery with a graft.
Heart Transplant: Heart Transplantation is usually done on those patients who have a weak heart that fails to pump enough blood for proper circulation throughout the body. This type of surgery replaces an un-healthy and diseased heart with a healthy heart. This surgical measure is usually practiced when all other potential medical treatments fail to improve the patient’s health, and the risk of heart failure is imminent. Only those patients who are either severely sick or need an instant heart transplantation are candidates for this surgery. This is due to the limited availability of donor hearts.
