Cardiothoracic Surgery
Diseases and Conditions [top]
There are many kinds of heart disease that affect different parts of the heart and require a cardiothoracic surgeon for intervention. These include:
- Atrial Fibrillation
- Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)
- Congenital Heart Disease
- Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)
- Esophogeal Abnormalities
- Lung Cancer
- Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO)
- Thoracic Aortic Disease
- Aneurysm
- Dissection
- Valvular Disease
- Mitral
- Aortic
- Tricuspid
- Pulmonic
Treatment [top]
There are several services offered by the cardiothoracic surgery team at Hamot. These include:
Therapeutic Interventions - A therapeutic intervention is a treatment for a disease or problem that is usually done inside the body with special equipment.
- Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) - The surgery reroutes, or bypasses, blood around clogged arteries to improve blood flow and oxygen to the heart.
- Traditional - A surgeon will make an incision down the center of your sternum (breastbone) to get direct access to your heart. You are connected to a heart-lung bypass machine, which allows for the circulation of blood throughout the body during surgery. The heart is stopped and the surgeon then performs the bypass procedure. After surgery, the surgeon closes the breastbone with special sternal wires and the chest with special internal or traditional external stitches.
- Minimally Invasive - Can be performed through a small thoracotomy incision for patients that require a LIMA graft to the LAD.
- Off Pump - Allows surgeons to perform surgery on the heart while it is still beating. The surgeon uses advanced operating equipment to stabilize portions of the heart and bypass the blocked artery in a highly controlled operative environment. Meanwhile, the rest of the heart keeps pumping and circulating blood to the body.
- Endoscopic Vein Harvesting - A minimally invasive procedure to remove the saphenous vein (which is used as a bypass graft) from the leg
- Valve Surgery
- Repair - Valve repair allows the surgeon to fix your faulty heart valve, often without the use of artificial parts.
- Replacement - If valve repair is not an option, your surgeon may choose to replace the valve. The native valve is removed, and a new valve is sewn to the annulus of your native valve. The new valve can either be mechanical or biological.
- MAZE - A surgical intervention that cures atrial fibrillation by interrupting the circular electrical patterns that are responsible for this arrhythmia.
- Transmyocardial Laser Revascularization (TMR) - A procedure used to relieve severe angina or chest pain in very ill patients who aren't candidates for bypass surgery or angioplasty.
- Atrial or Ventricular Septal Defect Repair - Atrial and ventricular septal defects are the most common congenital heart defects. They can occur alone or along with other congenital heart disorders.
- Lung Resection - A surgical procedure to remove a portion of the lung or the whole lung.
- Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm - A localized expansion of the wall of the aorta.
- Ventricular Aneurysm Repair
- Esophogeal Resection - The surgical removal of the esophagus, nearby lymph nodes and sometimes a portion of the stomach.
- Ventricular Assist Devices (VAD) - A mechanical pump that helps a heart that is too weak to pump blood through the body. It is sometimes referred to as “a bridge to transplant” since it can help a patient survive until a heart transplant can be performed.
- Perfusion Services - A member of the open-heart surgical team responsible for the selection, setup and operation of a mechanical device commonly referred to as the heart-lung machine.
