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Procedures
   
Cardiac Procedures
Balloon Valvuloplasty
Electrical Cardioversion
Radiofrequency Ablation
Pacemaker Implantation
Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) Insertion
Open Heart Surgery
Coronary Artery Bypass
Valvular Heart Surgery
Other Heart Surgeries
Vascular Procedures
Vascular Surgery
Procedures
 


 
Cardiac Transplantation
Cardiac transplantation is an operation in which a heart that is too badly damaged to be repaired is removed and replaced with a healthy human heart. If this surgery becomes necessary for you, you would be referred by your cardiologist to a center that performs this procedure.
If you are scheduled to have open heart surgery, you will meet with your surgeon and with a cardiothoracic nurse who will explain the procedure in detail to you and your family. You will be given a special heart surgery patient manual with further information about your procedure, the hospital stay and your recovery.
Other Heart Surgeries
There are other surgeries involving the heart, including repair of congenital heart abnormalities, surgery on the sac around the heart (pericardium), removal of ventricular aneurysms and repair of heart muscle damaged by an acute heart attack. There are, of course, new procedures being introduced regularly. You can be assured that your doctor will provide you with the latest in appropriate technology.

Transmyocardial Laser Revascularization
Transmyocardial Laser Revascularization (TMR) is a newly developed surgical procedure that is performed, like bypass surgery, to help restore the flow of blood to areas of your heart that are not receiving enough oxygen due to blockages in the coronary arteries. This surgery is usually performed on patients that have nearly constant angina (chest pain from the heart) and cannot undergo bypass surgery.

TMR uses a specially designed laser to create tiny pathways through the layers of the heart to provide oxygen to the heart muscle that is not receiving a sufficient supply. Although these tiny pathways are so small that they do not cause bleeding into the heart or heart muscle, they are able to increase oxygen flow to the heart muscle. Over time, they stimulate the growth of new blood vessels to the affected area of the heart. Laser revascularization can also be performed in the catheterization laboratory with a laser catheter inserted from an artery in your groin.

Choose a topic at left and click for more information on Open Heart Surgery.



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