Off-pump or beating heart surgery is another type of surgery where the chest bone is opened to access the heart, but the heart is not stopped nor heart-lung bypass machine is used. Off-pump heart surgery are limited to CABG.Small incisions are done between the ribs by surgeons to do some types of heart surgeries. These are known as minimal invasive heart surgery and the breast bone are not opened.
Minimal invasive surgery and new methods reduce the risks involved and speed up the process of recovery. Coronary artery bypass grafting also known as CABG is mostly done on adults, where a healthy artery is attached to a coronary artery which is blocked. This grafted artery bypasses the artery blockage and brings fresh blood to the heart and helps in its smooth functioning.
Open heart surgeries are done mainly when fatty materials form a plaque on the walls of arteries and do not allow the bloodvessels to provide oxygen and blood to flow freely to the heart. The heart muscles become so narrow and hardened making the blood flow to the heart very difficult which results in heart attacks.
Heart surgeries are complicated surgeries done for several hours while the patient is kept under general aesthesia.some people of advanced age and who have had multiple surgeries and are at higher risk are done sternal plating; that is re-joining of breastbone after the surgery with small titanium plates.
Pacemakers are electrical devices which are implanted under our skin to help manage the irregular heartbeats and arterial flutters where the upper chambers of the heart beat too fast.
There are many risks involved after heart surgeries like wound infections in the chest, stroke or heart attack,breathing difficulties, lung infection or kidney failures,bloodclots and neurological problems. Post-surgery care is very important and should take adequate care not to get infections in the operated area and should take rest and sleep well. It takes six weeks for a gradual recovery and though the grafts can work for many years in most patients, surgery alone does not prevent artery blockage from happening again.
We have to improve our heart health by following certain things like eating a healthy diet, cutting back on foods high in fat, salt and sugar and leading a more active lifestyle, exercise, walking, not smoking and controlling high cholesterol and high blood pressure.