MINIMALLY INVASIVE OPERATIONS

Many atrial septal defect operations can be done minimally invasively. Normally in order to put a patient on the heart lung machine and do an ASD repair the entire breast bone must be split and the chest opened with an incision about a foot long. Through a minimally invasive approach the whole operation is done through an incision in the chest only a few inches long. In a minimally invasive ASD repair a small incision is made in the middle of the chest and a part of the breastbone is split. Special smaller tubes are used to put the patient on the heart lung machine. The operation is then performed through the small incision much like it is during a routine ASD operation. If you need an ASD repair and would like to consider a minimally invasive approach, contact us.

Many heart valve operations can be done minimally invasively. The most common heart valve operations include mitral valve repair and aortic valve replacement. Normally in order to put a patient on the heart lung machine and do a valve replacement or repair the entire breast bone must be split and the chest opened with an incision about a foot long. Through a minimally invasive approach the whole operation is done through an incision in the chest only a few inches long. In a minimally invasive valve operation a small incision is made in the middle of the chest and a part of the breastbone is split. Special smaller tubes are used to put the patient on the heart lung machine. The operation is then performed through the small incision much like it is during a routine valve operation. If you need heart valve surgery and would like to consider a minimally invasive approach, contact us.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common chronic heart rhythm problem. It often causes symptoms of palpitations or shortness of breath. It also may require blood thinners or heart medications that have side effects. While many people do well with medications, some cannot tolerate the medications or cannot take blood thinners and may be candidates for atrial fibrillation surgery. The videoscopic ‘maze’ procedure is a minimally invasive operation to treat atrial fibrillation and restore a normal heart rhythm. Often this will resolve symptoms associated with atrial fibrillation and allow a patient to get off of some heart medications and blood thinners.

In a videoscopic maze procedure small incisions are made in between the ribs and special instruments and a video scope are used to create burn scars on the heart which block the abnormal electrical currents responsible for atrial fibrillation. If you have atrial fibrillation and would like to consider a minimally invasive operation to correct it, contact us.

VATS (or Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery) is a minimally invasive technique to perform some heart and lung surgery. Most of the lung operations we do can be done with VATS.

VATS is done by making very small incisions between the ribs to gain access to the inside of the chest. A small video camera is used to visualize and special instruments are used to perform the operation through the small incisions. This can result in significant reduction in pain, shorter hospital stay and faster recovery. If you need heart or lung surgery and would like to hear more about minimally invasive approaches, contact us.