Minimally-Invasive Cardiac Surgeries are Need of the Hour

Doctors are increasingly looking at minimally-invasive techniques for performing complex cardiac cases to avoid risk of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG).

In traditional open heart surgery, the heart is reached by cutting open the chest and dividing the breast bone. This median sternotomy approach requires a 10-12 inch incision through the sternal bone. In minimally invasive heartsurgery, heart (cardiac) surgeons perform heart surgery through small incisions in the right side of your chest, as an alternative to open heart surgery.

Surgeons operate between the ribs and don't split the breastbone (sternotomy), which results in less pain and a quicker recovery for most people. In minimally invasive surgery, your heart surgeon has a better view of some parts of your heart than in open heart surgery. As in open surgery, minimally invasive heart surgery requires stopping your heart temporarily and diverting blood flow from your heart using a heart-lung machine.

Another approach is "off-pump" or "beating-heart" surgery. With this technique certain areas of the heart are immobilized with cardiac stabilizers, allowing the heart to continue beating during the heart surgery and avoiding the need for the heart-lung machine.

Cardiac surgeons have achieved an unmatched, research-based level of experience and skill in minimally invasive surgery and will tailor the heart surgery based on the unique needs and condition of the patient.

Conditions treated with MICS

Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery (MICS) provides a unique approach to many traditional cardiac surgery operations. Dr. Baburajan AK , perform the following operations using minimally-invasive techniques:

• Aortic valve surgery
• Atrial septal defect closure, including patent foramen ovale
• Atrioventricular canal defect (also called atrioventricular septal defect) surgery
• Coronary bypass surgery (including "off-pump" bypass surgery, which is performed while the heart is still beating without a cardiopulmonary bypass machine) to treatcoronary artery disease
• Heart valve surgery to treat heart valve disease
• Maze heart surgery to treat atrial fibrillation
• Mitral valve surgery
• Saphenous vein harvest (removing a vein from your leg) for coronary bypass surgery
• Tricuspid valve surgery

Advantages

Minimally invasive heart surgery isn't an option for everyone, but it offers many advantages in those for whom it's appropriate. Benefits of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery includes:

• No splitting of the breastbone
• Dramatic reduction in trauma and pain
• Lower risk of infection
• Lower risk of bleeding
• Reduced ICU and hospital stay and quicker return to normal activities
• Improved postoperative pulmonary function
• Accelerated recovery/return to activity
• Improved quality of life
• Greatly improved cosmetic results
• Smaller, less-noticeable scars

Who is a candidate?

The majority of minimally-invasive cardiac surgery is directed to patients withvalvular heart disease including aortic, mitral, and tricuspid valve stenosis (narrowin) or regurgitation (leaking). In addition, minimally invasive cardiac surgery can be used for the treatment of atrial fibrillation closure of atrial septal defects and patent foramen ovales, and certain patients requiring coronary artery bypass surgery.

Minimally invasive cardiac surgery dramatically improves cosmetic results. Rather than a 10-inch scar down the middle of the chest, the minimally invasive approach results in a substantially smaller, less visible incision on the side of the chest. For many women, the scar is almost unnoticeable as it may be underneath the breast.

To know more about Minimal Invasive Heart surgery procedures,