Heart Surgery | Cardiac Surgery

At the following sites, we have assembled information about the most important operations of modern heart surgery. Read more about the following topics:

• Cardiac Catheter Examination | Balloon Dilation
• Heart Bypass Operation | Bypass Operation
• Pacemaker Implantation | Pacemaker

The heart is the most important organ in the human circulatory system. It ensures that all organs and cells are provided with oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood by circulating this red lifeblood through the arteries and a wide-branching web of blood vessels into the furthest corners of our body as a combination pressure-suction-pump. On the way back, it transports oxygen-deficient blood loaded down with carbon dioxide back and further into the lungs, where it is "topped up" with fresh oxygen and renews its journey through the body. At the size of a human fist, the heart is a very large organ. Depending on the age and physical condition of the person, the heart beats, on average, 60 to 70 times per minute. When subjected to physical stress, the amount of blood pumped can increase from its normal rate of 5 liters per minute to around 30 liters per minute. However, this high performance motor housed in the human body is not invulnerable. Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the number one killer in our highly civilised society. This term encompasses all diseases that lead to circulatory disturbances in the coronary blood vessels. Obesity, smoking, insufficient exercise, and other risk factors lead to a creeping calcification of the coronaries in many people. The elasticity of the coronary blood vessels may also decline based on age; certain illnesses can accelerate this process. Often times, insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle and the accompanying insufficient supply of oxygen is not noticed until it is too late, if at all. Slight constriction of the coronaries normally do not cause pains, but for strong constrictions, 40 percent of those affected experience what is called Angina pectoris, which primarily goes along with chest pains when subjected to stress. In a further 40 percent of cases, cornary heart disease leads to a heart attack, in which approx. 20 percent of those affected experience coronary death.

Notwithstanding, modern heart surgery has a vast repertoire of procedural measures at its disposal for mitigating discomfort brought about by the constriction of coronary blood vessels and for increasing the chances of patient survival. Heart catheters for the expansion of coronary blood vessels have a wide domain of implementation. These are most often inserted into the arteries in the groin and are advanced to the coronary blood vessels. In these cases, the coronary blood vessels can only be expanded with the aid of small balloons in order to achieve sufficient blood supply. In some cases the surgeon can also introduce "stents", which are small, bar-shaped supporting braces that are inserted with the aid of a heart catheter such that the constriction at the affected point remains open long-term.

In serious and often life-threatening cases in which multiple coronary blood vessels have strong constrictions or are already closed, a bypass operation can often achieve a "bypass" for these vessels. Bypasses are the most common procedure in heart surgery and are a routine operation in the vast majority of hospitals.

A pacemaker comes into operation when the patient's heart beats too irregularly or too slowly.