Understanding

Heart Surgery

By Mr Jonathan A.J. Hyde & Mr Timothy R. Graham

IMPORTANT NOTICE
This information is intended not as a substitute for personal medical advice but as a supplement to that advice for the patient who wishes to understand more about his or her condition.
Before taking any form of treatment YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR MEDICAL PRACTITIONER.
In particular (without limit) you should note that advances in medical science occur rapidly and some of the information about drugs and treatment may very soon be out of date.

Introduction

Although it is easy to say ‘it won’t happen to me’, over 30,000 heart operations are performed every year in the UK. More than 99% of these fall into two categories:

• operations for blockages in the coronary arteries
• operations for disease of the valves.

What is not commonly known is that heart surgery has only been around for just over 40 years. In that time, progress has been enormous, both in technical and scientific fields, and in surgical expertise, all resulting in a better and safer operation for the patient. These days, most operations take less than three hours, and the total stay in hospital is about a week. There is an increasing trend for ‘fast-tracking’ patients through the system, enabling some to go home as early as three days after the operation. This compares with the ‘all-day’ operations and three-week or longer stays of not much more than ten years ago.
Most of us know somebody who has had a heart operation, but in the majority of cases you would never know to look at them, since the recovery is so complete. You would also be surprised at the large number of famous figures or celebrities who have undergone such procedures, since they carry out their usual roles as if nothing had ever happened. The whole point of heart surgery is to restore the quality of life to normal, not to restore a state of invalidity. It is usually possible to be back to a normal, active life within three months of surgery, and in some cases even sooner than that.
There is an enormous amount of fear and mystery surrounding heart surgery, most of which is unnecessary. This book aims to dispel some or all of that fear, and explain every aspect of what is involved, from how the heart works and suffers from disease, through the operation itself, and what to expect afterwards.