Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG)

During a coronary artery bypass, blood flow is rerouted through a new artery or vein graft around diseased sections of the coronary arteries to increase blood flow to the heart. Bypass typically requires open-heart surgery and may require the use of a heart-lung bypass machine to circulate the blood and add oxygen.

Repair and Replacement of Defective Heart Valves

The heart's valves act like one-way doors allowing blood to flow in one direction. Problems arise when the valves are blocked and blood cannot flow, or when they won't close properly allowing the blood to leak backward. Treating defective heart valves can be done either by repair or replacement.

• Heart Valve Repair
  • Commissurotomy
    A commissurotomy is used when the heart valves are too narrow and grow together at the cusps. The surgeon repairs the cusps to create better blood flow.
  • Valvuloplasty
    The surgeon attaches a ring-like device to the valve to reinforce the cusps. This gives more support and allows proper closure of the valve that has backflow leakage.
• Heart valve replacement
  For valve replacement, the defective valve is removed surgically and an artificial valve is attached in its place. The new valve is made of either synthetic materials or biological tissue.

Aortic Aneurysm (Abdominal and Thoracic)

An aortic aneurysm is the dilation, bulging or ballooning out from part of the wall of the aorta, the artery through which blood flows out of the heart to the body. Aneurysms may occur along the length of the aorta as it runs from the heart, through the chest and down through the abdomen. Aneurysms that occur in the abdomen are called abdominal aortic aneurysms. When they occur in the chest, they are called thoracic aortic aneurysms. Both are considered very serious conditions that need careful monitoring and sometimes repair.

Aneurysm repair

• Open surgical replacement
  Through an incision in the site of the aneurysm, the diseased section of the aorta is replaced with a synthetic graft.
• Endovascular repair
  Endovascular stent placement is less invasive (penetrating the body by incision or injection) than open surgery. Aortal repair involves sealing off the aneurysm by placing an endovascular graft inside the diseased aorta providing a new path for blood to flow.
• Aortobifemoral bypass
  Aortobifemoral bypass surgery bypasses diseased large blood vessels in the abdomen and groin. Blood is redirected through a Y-shaped artificial graft made of synthetic material. The single end of the Y is sewn on the aorta. The two split ends of the Y are sewn below the blocked or narrowed areas of the femoral arteries. This allows the blood to bypass the diseased areas.