Common types, risks, & recovery of heart surgery

heart surgery

Heart surgery, otherwise called cardiac surgery, alludes to any surgery performed on the heart or veins that move your blood to and from the heart. Heart surgery is performed under various conditions, all of which can be life-threatening, including strokes, heart attacks, and blood clots. Heart surgery is also proposed for people at high risk for heart diseases. 

Heart surgery is often needed to address plaque buildup in the heart valves, which can cause faulty, totally, or partially blocked blood flow in the coronary artery. Heart surgery can be performed traditionally and with modern-day minimal intrusive strategies where robots are utilized to perform the surgery. Let's look at the different types of Heart surgeries commonly performed, their risks, and recovery factors.

Commonly Performed Heart Surgeries

  • Bypass Surgery

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG), also known as bypass surgery, is a major lifesaving surgical procedure performed on a patient's heart. The surgery is needed when the blood supply to the heart is cut off, and the coronary artery is further blocked. In this surgery, a healthy artery from another part of the body is extracted, and it is used for the blood flow in a new route to the heart by bypassing the section that is blocked in the artery of the heart. Sometimes, during a CABG, multiple blockages may be needed to be rerouted in one single surgery.

  • Implantation of Pacemaker

The pacemaker is an electronic medical device installed inside the body under your abdomen or below the skin of your chest. The wires of the pacemaker are attached to the heart, which helps the heart to maintain a steady rhythm. Implantation of a pacemaker is required on patients who suffer from serious cases of arrhythmia. Since it can not be treated with medicine, a medical device needs to be planted in the patient's body to keep their heart functioning normally. The pacemaker uses electric signals, which helps the heartbeat at an equal pace and protects the patient from strokes or heart attacks.

The Risk of Heart Surgery

Some major risks you might face if you're opting a heart surgery are as follows:

  • Reactions to anesthesia

  • Bleeding

  • Damage to tissues of the heart, liver, kidneys, and lungs

  • Infection

  • Stroke

  • Even sometimes Death, for someone who is very sick before and while performing the surgery

For some people who have conditions like diabetes, peripheral artery disease, or kidney or lung disease, the risks of heart surgery become higher. To alleviate these risks, doctors prescribe lifestyle changes and dietary changes to patients when the surgery is to be done non-emergency. For emergency surgeries, patients with the conditions mentioned above are at a higher risk of surgery failure.

Recovery from a Heart Surgery

Recovery time relies upon the sort of medical procedure you go through; however, for most kinds of heart surgery, you will probably go through a day or more in the hospital's intensive care unit. After that, you will be moved to normal care of the hospital for several days until you are dispersed for home. For major procedures such as bypass surgery, the recovery timeline can stretch up to 12 weeks. You can expect a shorter recovery timeline of around 3-4 weeks for minimally invasive procedures.

Conclusion

You must take care of your heart and maintain its health for long and healthy life. With the increasing prevalence of heart diseases in India, the number of people suffering from these problems is increasing every day. If you or your family members and loved ones are suffering from heart problems, visit Medipulse hospital for the best treatment course for all types of heart problems. As the best private hospital in Jodhpur, they are well-equipped with all the personnel and technological aids to help you get an easy heart surgery with a quick recovery time. For more information, visit the hospital website.