Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery

By Author: Rohan Sinha
Total Articles: 276
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In Minimally Invasive Surgery, cardiac surgeons perform the surgery through the small incisions made on the chest of the patient. Surgeons operate between the ribs, and do not split the breastbone. This results in less pain and a quicker recovery for most of the patients.

Please note that minimally invasive surgery also lets the surgeons have a better view of some parts of the heart as compared to the traditional surgeries. Just like traditional surgery, heart is stopped temporarily using the heart and lung machine.

Some of the minimally invasive heart surgeries include:

Coronary Bypass Surgery (CBS)

Heart Valve Surgery

Tricuspid Valve Surgery

Mitral Valve Surgery

Aortic Valve Surgery

Maze Heart Surgery

However, not all patients are ideal candidates for this surgery. Your surgeon will go through your medical history and may ask you for some tests before deciding whether you're an ideal candidate for the surgery.

Major advantages of minimally invasive surgery ...
... (as compared to traditional surgeries) include:

Reduced trauma and pain

Less blood loss

Less noticeable scars

Shorter hospital stay and faster recovery

Lower risk of infection

So, the surgery offers some great advantages. But, just like any other surgery, minimally invasive surgery too has its own share of risk factors, which may include:

Bleeding

Wound infection

Heart attack

Stroke

So, you better sit with your surgeon for a thoughtful discussion so that you can make an informed decision.

Minimally invasive heart surgery has clear advantages over traditional surgery. Depending on the surgery, you can have one or more incisions on your body; these incisions are about half-inch long. It's through these incisions that surgeons insert laparoscope and other specially designed tools inside the body. Laparoscope is a tube with a camera at one end, which allows the surgeons see the inner chest-area on a large screen. Once the heart surgery is completed, this laparoscope is pulled out of the body.

It's not that minimally invasive surgery can be used for only heart related surgeries; hundreds of other surgeries, like bone marrow transplantation are performed laparoscopically. However, as said earlier, not all patients can be ideal candidates for this type of surgery; it's your surgeon who'll decide this for you.

Last, but not the least, patients (actually their families) should look for the best hospital and heart surgeon. And, if they don't feel satisfied with the explanation of their doctors, they should definitely look for the second opinion.

Max Healthcare is a leading chain of multi-speciality hospitals in India, and has some of the best cardiac surgeons on board. For minimally invasive heart surgeries and bone marrow transplantation, kindly visit its website.