Heart and vascular surgery

We are equipped to treat routine and complex cardiac and vascular conditions in adults. Our surgical team is composed of cardiac specialists and vascular specialists who are able to perform traditional surgeries and minimally invasive procedures, as well as treatments for poor circulation or cardiac blood clots.

Beating-heart surgery

Open-heart surgery requires the heart to be motionless and stopped with a special chemical solution. The heart is then restarted upon completion of the procedure. The process of restarting the heart and reintroducing blood flow is called reperfusion. This can sometimes lead to complications, such as arrhythmias and heart attacks.

Reperfusion injury can be avoided if the heart is kept beating during surgery. Beating-heart surgery is a technically demanding, specialized form of surgery, utilizing a device to stabilize the part of the heart that is the surgical focus. The heart continues to beat and circulate blood throughout the operation, and our skilled surgeons are able to perform over 40 percent of all heart surgeries using this technique.

High-risk and complex cardiac surgery

Heart surgery can be particularly complex for if you are high-risk. You may be high-risk if you are elderly, have had several heart surgeries, have severe blockages or currently have complicated health problems.

With complex heart surgery, our surgeons make incisions down the front of the chest, cutting through the breastbone to get to the heart. This technique is known as median sternotomy. Years of refinement and technical development have made this type of open chest heart surgery highly safe and effective, although, recovery time may be a bit longer. After surgery, if you are particularly high-risk, you may receive sternal plating, a technique where the breastbone is rejoined with small titanium plates.

Minimally invasive cardiac and vascular surgery

In specific cases, minimally invasive open heart surgery techniques allow surgeons to perform surgery through smaller incisions. These techniques can allow for a faster recovery, smaller incision, shorter hospital stay and a swift return to your previous lifestyle. Additionally, there is typically less postoperative pain.

Our minimally invasive cardiac surgery can be used to treat:

• Aortic valve replacement
• Atrial septal abnormalities
• Mitral valve repair and mitral valve replacement

Additionally, we treat vascular conditions and diseases of all degrees. With the technology and evolving surgical landscape that has been afforded to us, we are able to use these minimally invasive techniques to achieve results that were previously only available through traditional surgery.

Some of the robot-assisted thoracic surgeries and minimally invasive vascular surgeries we offer include:

• Abdominal aortic aneurysm repair
• Carotid endarterectomy
• Diaphragmatic pacing implantation
• Diaphragmatic paralysis
• Diaphragmatic plication
• Femoropopliteal bypass surgery