Cardiothoracic surgery (heart surgery) is done to correct problems with the heart. In the United States, more than half a million heart surgeries are performed each year for a variety of heart problems. We offer the most advanced cardiac procedures in the Valley including:

Cardiac Surgical Services

Beating-heart surgery is a way to perform surgery without stopping the heart. Surgeons use a special device to stabilize the part of the heart on which they are operating. The heart continues to beat and circulate blood to the heart muscle during the operation. Surgery on a beating-heart helps reduce the risk for complications associated with temporarily stopping the heart during surgery.

Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery is sometimes called “cabbage” (CABG). The surgery reroutes or “bypasses” blood around clogged arteries to improve blood flow and oxygen to the heart. CABG is advised for selected groups of patients with significant narrowing’s and blockages of the heart arteries (coronary artery disease). CABG surgery creates new routes around narrowed and blocked arteries, allowing sufficient blood flow to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle.

Minimally Invasive Coronary Artery Bypass Graft is an alternative for patients who need cardiac bypass surgery. This innovative technique uses only a small, 3-inch incision underneath the patient’s breast – avoiding the bone.

With this type of surgery, recovery is less painful, healing is faster, there are fewer physical restrictions after surgery, there’s no risk of sternal wound infection and the scar is smaller and much less visible. Patients often report returning to normal activities within days versus weeks with conventional surgery. The use of the Minimally Invasive Coronary Artery Bypass Graft is based on a number of factors. Not everyone is a candidate.

Thoracic Aortic Surgeries
 

• Valve-sparing aortic root replacement is for patients with aortic root and ascending aorta aneurysms, this procedure preserves the patient’s native aortic valve, avoiding the imposition of lifelong anticoagulation.
• Endovascular dissection repair is the surgery of choice for acute Type B aortic dissection complicated by rupture or malperfusion syndrome.
• Hybrid total arch repair is an alternative for select patients with saccular arch aneurysms otherwise considered prohibitively high risk for traditional open arch repair; this surgery employs a brachiocephalic bypass with a trifurcated graft followed by concomitant placement of a stent graft in the arch.
• Reoperative aortic root reconstruction is for patients with previous aortic valve replacement, this surgery can be performed with a low perioperative mortality rate and satisfactory long-term survival.
• Thoracic aortic stent graft repair is for patients with transverse arch and descending thoracic aortic aneurysms, the goal of this therapy is to prevent the aorta from rupturing.

Transmyocardial Laser Revascularization (TMR)
TMR is a treatment aimed at improving blood flow to areas of the heart that were not treated by angioplasty or surgery. A special carbon dioxide laser is used to create small channels in the heart muscle, improving blood flow in the heart. TMR is a surgical procedure performed through a small left chest incision or through a midline incision. Frequently, it is performed with coronary artery bypass surgery, but occasionally it is performed independently.

MAZE Heart Surgery
MAZE takes approximately four hours, but can range from three to five hours. The heart is stopped for the surgery, and a heart-lung machine oxygenates and circulates the blood throughout the body. The surgeon places, and then sutures, incisions in both atria to isolate and stop the abnormal electrical impulses from forming and to direct the impulses down a normal pathway. Once the procedure is completed and the surgical team is satisfied that the heart is beating strongly again, the heart-lung machine is disconnected. The chest incisions are then closed (sutured.)

Pacemaker and Defibrillator Implants
Defibrillators/pacemaker implants/surgery
There is new technology and advances in surgical techniques that have made biventricular pacing possible. This breakthrough has improved patient outcomes and quality of life, in many cases, beyond what could be achieved without the enhanced capacity to synchronize the two ventricles.

Valve Repair or Replacement Surgery
 

• Regurgitation (valve leakage) may be corrected by replacing or shortening the supporting valve structures to allow the valve to close tightly, or by inserting a prosthetic ring to reshape a deformed valve. Valve flaps (leaflets) may also be modified to stop blood from flowing backwards.
• Annuloplasty describes surgical techniques performed on the valve's annulus, the ring of tissue that supports the valve leaflets. Purse-string sutures are sewn around the ring to make the opening smaller which helps the leaflets meet again when the valve closes. Sometimes when repairing the annulus, it is necessary to implant an annuloplasty ring where the leaflets meet the fibrous annulus to downsize an abnormally enlarged valve opening so the leaflets can come together properly. Repair of structural support replaces or shortens the cords that support the valves (chordae tendineae and papillary muscles). When the cords and muscles are the right length, the valve leaflet edges meet and eliminate the leak.
• Valve repair (valvuloplasty) may be done when a valve leaflet is floppy and prolapses. The procedure involves surgically separating, cutting out a section, or pleating a valve leaflet.
• Valve replacement involves removal of the defective valve and replacing it with an artificial (prosthetic) valve by sewing it to the annulus of the natural valve. Approximately 95% of all valve replacements are performed for mitral or aortic valves.