How to Know the Types of Open-Heart Surgery

Heart surgery is aimed at improving the functioning of a heart that is working abnormally. The surgeon opens the patient’s rib cage to surgically rectify a heart valve or coronary artery while blood is circulated through a heart-lung machine. Get the basic information about the types of open-heart surgery from the information below.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Consult a certified cardiologist or heart surgeon. You can get a list of these specialists in your neighborhood from Google or Yahoo!, Put keywords “cardiologists names” or “heart surgeons names” and add the name of your city at the end. Your family doctor may also recommend the name of the specialist.
2. Request the cardiologist to inform you of the kind of heart problem and the type of surgery needed to rectify it.
3. Types of open-heart surgery usually performed by specialists include heart valve repairs, heart transplant and coronary artery bypass.
4. Understand that in heart valve repair, the blockage or leaking is rectified. In a heart transplant, a damaged heart is replaced with a healthy heart from a donor. The coronary artery bypass involves taking a healthy blood vessel from the body and using it to regularize the blood supply to heart.
5. Visit government health centers in your city to get more information.

Tips & Warnings

• Consult more than one heart surgeon or cardiologist, if necessary.