Open Heart Surgery

Open heart surgery occurs when a heart-lung machine is used to support your circulation while your surgeon opens your chest and makes changes to your heart or the arteries on the surface of your heart. There are a variety of types of open-heart surgeries, depending on the condition being treated and the overall health of the patient.

Types of Open Heart Surgery

• Coronary artery bypass graft

• Heart valve procedures

• Heart transplants

If you have open-heart surgery, you will stay in the hospital for 2 to 4 days after your surgery. You will be asked to refrain from smoking at least two weeks before your surgery, and since you have to go 2 weeks without a cigarette, you should think about giving up the habit. You also will not be able to eat or drink for at least 8 hours before your surgery. You will probably be admitted the morning or your procedure. The surgery itself takes an around five hours. Afterward you will be carefully monitored in an intensive care unit, and then you will be moved to a regular floor. In general, open-heart surgeries do not need to be repeated.

Reasons for Open Heart Surgery

• Heart failure

• Arterial fibrillation

• Tumor removal in the heart

• Congenital heart disease

• Cardiac trauma

Today, open-heart surgery is a fairly common procedure, with a high survival rate, but it still carries a risk of complications. If risks are more serious if you are older or if you have other serious medical conditions before your surgery or they develop shortly after your surgery. Other complications may include bleeding and infection.

After you are released from the hospital you may experience:

• Selling along the incision site

• Muscle pain or tightness in the shoulders and/or upper back

• Stroke, seizure or coma

When you are ready your doctor may have you start a cardiac rehab program that is supervised.

Open Heart Surgery

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