Heart Surgeons and Open Heart Surgery

March 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

A residency for heart surgeons is usually 6-9 years training to be fully qualified as a surgeon. Training for cardiac surgery can be combined with vascular or thoracic surgery. A cardiac surgeon can go into residency straight from their medical school, or completing surgery residency which then is followed with a fellowship. They may further go into a fellowship for cardiac transplants, pediatric heart surgery, or acquired adult heart conditions.

Open heart surgery is done when repairing or replacing heart valves, heart bypass, atrial fibrillation, and heart transplants. (CABG) coronary artery bypass grafting, is the heart surgery type that is most common. Over 500,000 are done annually in the U.S., on people having a severe coronary heart disease. Plaque builds in the arteries and limits the blood flowing to the heart muscle, causing chest pain, heart attacks, or shortness of breath. Heart surgeons can perform multiple bypasses in one surgery. You can discuss the option of having angioplasty instead of CABG, where the surgeon uses a balloon to open blocked arteries and might put in a stint to support the walls of the affected artery. If no treatments are feasible, the cardiac surgeon may use the option of transmyocardial laser revasculation (TLR) but is uncommon.

Replacing or repairing heart valves is another type surgery done on the heart. When valves aren’t working properly, the surgeon has to repair or replace them. Heart valves are either replaced by valves of man-made materials, or from animal or human tissue. When the pulmonary or mitral valve is narrowed, a heart surgeon performs cardiac catherization. Arrhythmia is first treated with medications, but if that doesn’t work, surgery may be needed to put into place a pacemaker to control the rhythm of your heart.

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Life After Heart Surgery

January 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

When you hear that you need heart surgery it is likely that you are just worried surviving someone cutting you open and operating on your heart. And while heart surgery is very serious, many people do not give any thought to what will happen after you have survived the heart surgery and go back to reality.

For the first six weeks after heart surgery the most important thing to worry about is to lessen the chance of infection around the incision. Caring for incision is rather simple. It requires that you use soap and water and that the wound is healing properly. A wound that is heal properly should not be bleeding excessively or oozing. The wound should be tender but should not be red or warm around the incision. If there are any questions, contact the surgeon immediately. You should maintain a heart healthy diet following heart surgery. A meal plan will likely be provided for you by your physician. During this phase of recovery, pain management may be one of the most difficult things that you will face. Pain and tenderness around the incision sight with pain similar to what you experienced before heart surgery is normal. You should be given a prescription for pain medication to take after heart surgery.

Six to eight weeks after heart surgery a person can being to return to their normal life. By this time a person will be able to do light household chores like cleaning and laundry. A person can even begin to drive. At this stage a person can begin to exercise again, gradually. Exercise should not be taxing and should increase in time in fifteen minute intervals. A walking routine is a great way to get exercise in daily. A doctor should instruct you on and exercise plan.

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Do What You Are Told

December 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Heart conditions and heart surgeries are serious business. When chest pain hits, you never know what is causing it. It can be as simple as a bad case of indigestion, or as serious as one or more blocked heart valves. When the heart valves are blocked, the heart cannot do its job. There are as many reasons for heart disease as there are people who have heart disease. Finding out you have a heart condition is only the first step. The next step is yours.

We all know that eating right, exercising, staying away from cigarettes, drugs and alcohol are all ways to stay heart healthy. Everyone has a vice. When your heart is at stake, there are seriously important decisions to be made. Once the doctors determine what the problem is, they will take steps to fix said problem. This may include just diet and exercise. It may be that you need medication. Or in more serious cases, surgery might be the answer. Whatever the treatment for your problem, your doctor will tell you to take better care of yourself. Start eating right, exercise regularly, and absolutely stay away from cigarettes, alcohol or illicit drugs.

When it comes to your health and your heart, do what you are told. Make the decision to have a healthier life. Put down the cigarettes, cut out the happy hours, take a walk, eat an apple instead of a doughnut. These can be very difficult steps for some people. People who have smoked for many years find it near impossible to quit. Many people who have heart issues still continue to smoke. Those who have issues with alcohol find it just as difficult to put the bottle down.

Stop and think. What is important to you? Can those cigarettes or that drink possibly be more important than what you have left to live for? Take a good look at your family, the answer is right there.

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The Doctor Is In

December 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Getting heart healthy is a lifestyle change. If you have been diagnosed with heart disease or have had heart surgery, you know the importance of making your heart healthy and keeping it that way. If you are lucky enough to get that second chance, the warning that maybe you need to take better care of your heart, then it is time to step up to the challenge. Hopefully you will make the necessary lifestyle changes. Though challenging, it is worth it, to live a longer, healthier life. It might be an easy change to start eating healthier. While we like the greasy, fast food world, it is not horrible to start eating more vegetables and drinking more water. Fruits and vegetables can be delicious, and you will start to feel better almost immediately by replacing high sugar drinks with water. Quitting smoking or excessive alcohol drinking will be more difficult, but hopefully, with the new motivation of a healthy heart and living longer you will get there.

While these are all very important factors to getting your heart healthy and keeping it that way, one of the most important things you can do is to keep up with your doctor’s appointments. Your doctor will know of any new trends in the treatment of your heart disease, and will need to keep a close eye on you to regulate your medications. The only way for you to keep getting your medications as they need to be taken, is to follow up with your doctor. Staying on track is actually easier when you are following closely with your doctor. He or she will be able to track your progress, let you know what you are doing right, as well as what you need to do better, and will be able to give you the encouragement you need to keep working at it. Your lifelong health is worth it.

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Who Needs a Cardiovascular Surgeon?

October 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Cardiovascular surgeons perform operations on the heart and blood vessels. The need for cardiovascular surgery can arise out of a congenital condition, or coronary disease that occurs later in a patient’s life. Lifestyle factors can play a part in the onset of heart disease, with those who are obese, are smokers, diabetic or have high levels of cholesterol being most at risk from developing heart disease.

All heart professionals espouse the very real benefits of preventative measures when it comes to heart health. Maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle with a diet rich with fresh fruit and vegetables and a balance of the four food groups together with regular exercise and not smoking gives the human heart the greatest chance of a long and healthy life.  Even little exercise such as golfing is a way to prolong your life.  Golf is an exciting escapade for family fun or just a couple. Florida vacation home rentals are the best way to enjoy over 1,000 golf courses in Florida.

Of course, not all heart patients go under the knife because they have made lived out ill advised lifestyle choices. Patients born with a hole in their heart or some other defect will require the expertise of a cardiovascular surgeon to improve the quality of their life by reducing pain or curing the condition they are suffering with.

What operations does a heart professional carry out?
The range of heart surgeries is vast, and each one is a complex and intricate process that requires the immense skill and knowledge of only the most highly trained medical professionals. Whether it’s inserting a pacemaker, carrying out heart bypass surgery or a heart transplant for the most extreme cases, heart surgery is never a small undertaking. However, advances in technology have reduced the severity of some procedures.

Some operations that were open heart surgeries (where the chest is opened to allow the surgeon to gain access to the heart) are now carried out through just a few small incisions. A coronary bypass procedure is one example where a less invasive method can be used. The troubled artery is accessed through a small incision which is far better for the patient as it speeds up recovery time when compared with the more invasive alternative.

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Open Heart Surgery

August 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Open heart surgery refers to operations when the patient’s chest is opened to allow the surgeon to gain access to the heart. It does not mean opening up the heart itself in order to operate inside it. Open heart surgery is a serious undertaking as such an invasive procedure requires a lengthy recuperation time for the patient as their chest cavity heals from the operation.

Cardiovascular surgeons have continually altered and improved their methods, as is the motivation of the medical fraternity to improve upon treatments and methodology. Heart professionals do still operate ‘open heart’, but there are many procedures which can now be carried out in a much less invasive way.

Rather than opening up the chest cavity, which not only takes the patient a long time to recover from, but leaves the patient more exposed to infection and other complications than a less invasive method would. Not only do a few small incisions take less time to heal than one larger one, the patient can quicker recover from the surgery itself as the body does not have to deal with the recovery of a major opening in the chest at the same time as the heart heals.

Robot assisted surgery utilises a machine to carry out the actual operation under the control of the surgeon. This means that rather than opening the patient’s chest, a single small incision, or a few small incisions, can be made into which the robot can access the heart or blood vessels to be operated on. Patient recovery time is dramatically reduced and complications are less likely.

That is not to say that complications do not happen. Operating on the human heart, even relatively minor procedures, always carries some degree of risk. In all heart operations, cardiovascular surgeons work knowing the potential risk of both neurological damage and the possibility of the patient suffering a stroke. This factor further highlights the difficult and complexity of performing surgery on one of the body’s major organs.

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Cardiovascular Surgeons – A Potted History

August 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Given the incredibly high tech nature of cardiovascular surgery, it would be forgivable to think that operating on the heart and blood vessels is a very modern medical intervention. In fact, heart surgery began back in the late nineteenth century, with periodic advancements bringing the medical profession to where it is today.

Early cardiac surgery on the actual heart (previous operations had treated the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart) involved a young patient inflicted with stab wounds. While the patient died just days after going under the knife, the operation was a breakthrough, and only a few years later a similar case was treated successfully. t

By the standards of the day, when pioneering surgeon, Henry Souttar, inserted his finger into the left atrium of a patient’s heart it may have seemed a reckless approach to the treatment of the patient. The female patient survived the operation, but the doctors’ medical peers did indeed think his approach was too dangerous and banned the procedure.

Up until World War II, heart professionals had a chequered record of success. Undoubtedly they were making incredible progress and did prolong the lives of many patients and relieve the pain and suffering of others, but new technologies paved the way for even further advancements and a better success rate for cardiac patients.

Several surgeons used Henry Souttar’s finger insertion technique, though his method was adapted and improved upon several times since it was first tried. A number of successful heart operations took place throughout the 1940s by separate surgeons operating in different locations, and independently of each other, but each one operated successfully.

To this day, new advances in methodology and technology in heart surgery have continued to be developed. Today’s heart professionals may operate very differently to those acting over a hundred years ago, but their determination and drive to improve and save the lives of their patients exists in today’s surgeons too. And if it were not for the pioneering surgeons of that time, we would not have the awe-inspiring medial techniques that are available today.

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Cardiovascular Professions | Heart Surgeons

August 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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A cardiac surgeon, or heart surgeon, performs surgery on the heart and blood vessels. These medical doctors go through years of intense academic and clinical training. They encourage a healthy lifestyle, including exercise and proper nutrition, and specializes exclusively in medical issues related to the heart.

A healthy, functioning heart is of utmost importance to an individual’s health. If a person is experiencing heart problems that pose a serious health risk, surgery will be considered. There are a various types of heart surgery.

Coronary artery bypass surgery is one of the most common types. The heart surgeon must bypass the blockage of the coronary using a blood vessel taken from another area of the body. The first successful coronary artery bypass was undertaken in the 1960′s, and since then, the field of cardiovascular medicine has seen the introduction of many improvements and new surgical techniques. One of the most exciting advancements may be the introduction of a rather new technique called minimally invasive coronary artery bypass. Unlike traditional open-heart surgery, this procedure gains access to the coronary arteries through a very small incision above the heart.

Other common procedures include triple and quadruple bypasses, along with heart transplants. Because of the delicate nature of these surgeries and the fact that advancements are being made constantly, heart surgeons must undergo many years of post-secondary education.

The majority of cardiac surgeons begin their educational paths with a four-year Bachelor of Science degree, though a Bachelor of Arts is also permissible. Upon graduation comes four years of medical school, earning the student the title of Medical Doctor, or M.D. Then, five years of study in general surgery is required. The final step in training is a cardiothoracic training program of two to three years. Even more training may be mandatory for certain specialties, and a licensing exam must be passed before being allowed to practice.

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A Look At Open Heart Surgery History

August 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Surgeries performed by heart surgeons along with others in the cardiac professions include open-heart surgery. During this type of surgery, the chest is opened and the procedure is performed on the heart. Note that this term generally means the chest is opened, not the heart. However, the heart could be opened during the surgery depending on the need.

Dr. Wilfred Bigelow of Toronto made the discovery that heart repair could be better performed when the surgical procedure was motionless and bloodless. This means that the heart must be stopped and the blood drained. Using hypothermia as a surgical technique was first used by Dr. F. John Lewis and Dr. C. Walton L i l l e h e i in 1952 in Minnesota. In 1953 the first heart surgery performed under local anesthesia was performed by S o v i e t s u r g e o n A l e k s a n d r A l e k s a n d r o v i c h V i s h n e v s k i y.

Hypothermia had its limitations as surgeons soon realized. Because these procedures can take time and blood flow needs to be maintained, the functions of the heart and lungs needs to be provided by cardiopulmonary bypass. In 1953 the first success using an oxygenator to provide extracorporeal circulation was reported by Dr. John Gibbons from the Jefferson Medical School. However, this doctor abandoned this method due to subsequent failures. In 1954, Dr. Lillehei was successful using cross-circulation techniques and used the patients mother or father as live heart-lung machines. At the Mayo Clinic during this same time, Dr. John Kirklin used a pump-oxygenator for several operations. Many other surgeons around the world soon followed his success.

During the following years, many surgeons and doctors made great strides in open-heart surgical technology. This included a heart-lung machine created by Dr. Nazih Zuhdi, that reduced the need for blood and reduced the surgical prep time considerable. Dr. Zhuhdi also performed the first successful heart transplant in Oklahoma in 1985.

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