Minimally Invasive Heart Valve Procedure
Dr. Mason and Dr. Pearson decided that Kens best option was a valve-in-ring procedure, which involves using a catheter to place a new valve inside the synthetic ring.
But Kens anatomy presented a challenge. The mitral valve has two leaflets, or gates, that open and close. Dr. Mason said Kens anterior leaflet was long enough that placement of the new valve would block blood flow from the heart into the aorta.
The LAMPOON procedure is an elegant solution to the problem. It uses an electrified wire to cut the anterior leaflet tip into two parts.
It splays the leaflet, so it looks like a pair of pants instead of a skirt, Dr. Mason said. The split in the leaflet allows blood to exit the heart.
During the procedure, a wire is inserted via catheter into each leg. They are then shaped into a V and maneuvered to the tip of the anterior mitral leaflet. The electrified V is gently moved from the tip of the leaflet toward its base, cutting as it goes. The new valve was installed after the LAMPOON procedure.
Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery
Minimally invasive cardiac and vascular surgery is performed through small incisions that are much less traumatic to the body than traditional open heart surgery which requires opening the breastbone through the chest and the support of a heart-lung machine.
During minimally invasive operations, surgeons trained in this advanced approach use instruments such as catheters, stents and lasers and computer-guided technology to correct heart and vascular conditions. Minimally invasive surgery can be a lifesaving option for high-risk patients considered inoperable due to age or concurrent medical conditions.
Cardiac and vascular surgeons and interventional cardiologists at the Brigham and Womens Hospital Heart & Vascular Center have a history of innovation in minimally invasive surgeryrefining and successfully performing advanced techniques, from the research phase to approved standards of care. In 1996, Lawrence Cohn, MD led a BWH team in New Englands first minimally invasive cardiac surgery, replacing the aortic valve of a 71-year-old man. Since then, BWH cardiovascular specialists have performed thousands of minimally invasive surgeries and procedures with demonstrated outcomes equal to or better than conventional open heart surgery.
What Happens Before Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery
Your surgeon will give you instructions to prepare for minimally invasive heart surgery. You may need to stop taking some medications for a short period before the procedure.
Youll receive general anesthesia to remain asleep during the surgery. You may have a small patch of hair shaved where your surgeon will make the incisions. Your surgical team will connect you to a heart-lung machine that keeps blood circulating during the operation.
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Heart Surgery Using Minimally Invasive Procedures
Since 2004, cardiac surgeons at Flagstaff Medical Center have performed more than 2,100 open-heart surgeries.
Were also one of a small number of hospitals in the country to perform heart surgeries using minimally invasive procedures. Many of these surgeries are performed without heart-lung bypass machines, thereby reducing patients risk and recovery time.
After any surgical procedure, you can rest assured were here to support you and your family during your recovery and after.
What To Expect During Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery
Cardiac surgeons perform minimally invasive cardiac surgery in a Dignity Health – St. Rose Dominican hospital. This type of procedure is major surgery, so you will have general anesthesia. In most cases, doctors do not need to stop the heart or use a heart-lung machine. This means you can avoid potential complications from restarting the heart. Generally, minimally invasive surgeries take less time than traditional surgeries.
All cardiac surgeries involve some level of risk of complications, such as bleeding, infection, and stroke. If you are a good candidate for minimally invasive surgery, you are at low risk and complications are rare. Talk with your doctor about plans to minimize your risks.
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Traditional Surgery Vs Dr Doolabhs Approach
Dr. Doolabh offers an approach to heart valve repair that is dramatically different from what is typically performed: He doesnt cut through the breastbone.
Traditional heart valve surgery requires cutting through the breastbone while Dr. Doolabhs approach avoids the breastbone altogether with a small incision between the ribs.
Conditions Treated With Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery
We use minimally invasive procedures whenever possible, but not everyone is a candidate. Your heart surgeon will discuss all treatment options with you to decide which approach is right for you. The conditions we treat with minimally invasive heart surgery include:
- Aortic diseases: Our heart surgeons can treat conditions that affect the aorta, the bodys largest artery, with minimally invasive techniques. Aortic diseases include aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections.
- Arrhythmia : We can treat arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, with a minimally invasive procedure.
- Coronary artery disease: Our experienced surgeons perform minimally invasive coronary artery bypass surgery. The procedure bypasses a blocked artery to improve blood flow to the heart.
- Heart valve disease: We treat heart valve disease with minimally invasive techniques to repair valves or replace them with synthetic or biological tissue valves. Our heart surgeons perform these procedures using small incisions. We coordinate with the structural heart disease team for transcatheter valve procedures, which use a catheter to access the heart through a blood vessel.
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What Happens After A Minimally Invasive Aortic Valve Replacement
After your minimally invasive aortic valve replacement:
- You will start your recovery in the ICU or a recovery room.
- When you wake up, you might feel confused at first. You might wake up a couple of hours after the surgery, or a little later.
- Most people notice relief of their symptoms right after surgery.
- The team will carefully monitor your vital signs, such as your heart rate. They may hook you up to several machines so the nurses can check these more easily.
- You may have a tube in your throat to help you breathe. This may be uncomfortable, and you wont be able to talk. Your doctor or nurse will usually remove the tube within 24 hours.
- You may have a chest tube to drain excess fluid from your chest.
- You may have small temporary pacemaker wires coming from your chest.
- Bandages will cover your incision. These can usually come off within a couple of days.
- You will feel some soreness, but you shouldnt feel severe pain. If you need it, you can ask for pain medicine.
- In a day or two, you should be able to sit in a chair and walk with help.
- You may perform breathing therapy to help remove fluids that collect in your lungs during surgery.
- You will probably be able to drink liquids the day after surgery. You can have regular foods as soon as you feel ready to eat.
- You may receive elastic stockings to help blood circulate through your leg veins.
- You will probably need to stay in the hospital for 3 to 5 days.
After you leave the hospital:
Why Might I Need A Minimally Invasive Aortic Valve Replacement
This procedure may be needed if your aortic valve is working poorly. This may happen if you have aortic valve stenosis or aortic valve regurgitation.
- In aortic stenosis, the valve is unable to open fully. This means less blood is able to exit the heart.
- In aortic regurgitation, the valve is leaky. Some blood leaks back through the valve instead of moving out to the rest of the body.
In both of these cases, you may need to have your aortic valve replaced. A poorly working aortic valve may lead to symptoms such as:
- Shortness of breath
- An unpleasant awareness of your heartbeat
If these symptoms continue, surgery may be needed. Your healthcare provider may recommend the surgery even if you dont have significant symptoms. Surgery is most effective before symptoms become severe.
Both aortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation can happen because of general aging of the valve. Other causes of aortic valve disease include:
- Heart birth defects
- Bacterial infection of the heart valve
- Tear of the aorta
- Aortic aneurysm
- Certain genetic conditions
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How Does It Work
Minimally invasive heart surgical procedures vary, based on the type of condition, but each type of procedure uses small incisions instead of cutting through the breastbone. In many cases, robotic assistance is used.
Minimally Invasive Heart Valve Repair
Heart valve repair corrects the damage to an affected valve to restore cardiovascular health. In minimally invasive valve-repair surgery, also called least invasive valve surgery , the surgeon makes a small incision in the chest that allows them to see the valve and repair the damage. There are two main types of minimally invasive heart-repair surgical procedures:
Thoracoscopic surgery
The surgeon will make a small incision in the chest and insert a thin tube called a thoracoscope. This long tube contains a small video camera so the surgeon can clearly see the heart valve. Long, thin instruments are used to repair the valve damage.
Robot-assisted surgery
The surgeon will make a small incision in the chest. Then, the surgeon controls the robotic arms to accurately perform the valve repair. Clear images of the heart are available on a computer screen that the surgeon uses while guiding the robotic arms.
Mitral Valve Repair and Replacement
When the mitral valve malfunctions, the flaps of the valve become thick or stiff and may fuse together. In a minimally invasive procedure, the surgeon can repair or replace the defective valve through a small incision in the chest.
Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair
Aortic Valve Replacement
What Is Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery
Minimally invasive heart surgery is a term for heart procedures performed through one or more small cuts . In contrast, open-heart surgeries typically use one long incision down the front of your chest.
Surgeons insert small, high-powered cameras, tools or robotic arms through the incisions. The surgeon guides the tools between your ribs to access your heart. Minimally invasive techniques may offer less scarring, reduced pain and faster healing than open-heart surgeries. Open-heart surgeries typically involve cutting through your breastbone to reach your heart.
What are the types of minimally invasive heart surgery?
There are two main types of minimally invasive heart surgery:
- Thoracoscopic surgery: Your surgeon makes one or more small incisions in the side of your chest. They insert a long tube with a video camera through the incisions to view your heart. They operate using long, thin tools.
- Robotically assisted heart surgery: Your surgeon makes one or more small incisions in the side of your chest. They guide robotic arms through the incisions. The robot shows clear images of your heart, and your surgeon controls the robotic arms to perform the procedure.
What is minimally invasive heart surgery used for?
Surgeons may use minimally invasive techniques for a variety of surgeries, including:
- Ventricular assist device placement.
Is minimally invasive heart surgery safe?
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Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery Resources
About Our Site
This website has been conceived as a down-to-earth guide to help and educate anybody who needs a heart procedure and wants to know the best medical and surgical solutions available today in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Keep reading and you will become an informed consumer with the right questions to ask. Cardiac surgery and cardiology have evolved tremendously over the last twenty years and the combined expertise of these specialties offers the best results and options ever achieved in the history of medicine. Our minimally invasive technologies and surgical solutions have opened new doors and a chance to get better even in cases who were considered inoperable by traditional and conventional methods.
Heart Surgery Experience
Over the span of Dr. Ciuffos extensive professional career in cardiothoracic surgery, he has had the opportunity to compare the clinical results and patients comfort and recovery with traditional and conventional cardiothoracic surgery techniques versus bloodless and minimally invasive heart surgery techniques.
Our center experience has shown that these new techniques allow the best clinical results. The most obvious advantages to minimally invasive heart surgery are less pain, less bleeding, less wound infections, a quicker recovery and return to a productive life style, superior cosmetic results. Learn more about Dr. Ciuffos minimally invasive heart surgery experience and training.
Why Choose Us?
Revolutionary Procedures Tavr At Johns Hopkins
“Its been clearly established now that TAVR is equivalent or superior to surgical aortic valve replacement basically in all patients…This is possibly one of the single most impactful procedures in cardiology and cardiac surgery in the last three decades.”
Learn why the TAVR procedure is becoming a popular option for patients facing congestive heart failure.
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Benefits Of Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery
During minimally invasive heart surgery, our surgeons make tiny chest incisions to access your heart through openings between the ribs. This approach is less invasive than traditional open heart surgery, in which surgeons open the chest to access the heart.
Benefits include:
- No opening of the chest or cutting of bones
- Faster recovery
- Minimal scarring
Minimally Invasive Heart Valve Surgery
Valve disease treatment has improved dramatically over the past 15 years. Today, UT Southwestern is one of a handful of centers in the US where a surgical replacement or repair of a heart valve is possible without cracking the chest.
Using a mini-thoracotomy approach, Dr. Doolabh is able to repair or replace a valve through a small 2-inch incision between the ribs without cutting through the breastbone . As a result, recovery time is reduced to 10 days versus six weeks for traditional open surgery. Dr. Doolabh has performed more of these surgeries than any other surgeon in Texas and in a new -state-of-the-art hospital, UT Southwestern continues to lead the field in cardiology and heart surgery as the 14th-ranked program nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Through minimally invasive surgery, we need to make only a 2-inch incision to repair or replace a valve, and the recovery time is reduced to 10 days versus six weeks for traditional open surgery. Weve performed more of these procedures than others in North Texas, and UT Southwestern is leading the advancement of additional new treatments.
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Our Heart Surgery Programs And Centers
Our surgeons treat people through these condition-specific centers and programs:
- Artificial Heart Program. As one of the first programs in the U.S., people with advanced heart failure receive life-saving VADs.
- Center for Heart Valve Disease. When your heart’s valves don’t work, blood doesn’t flow through your heart and body as it should. Experts repair many heart valve problems using minimally invasive surgeries.
- Center for Thoracic Aortic Disease. People with diseases like aortic aneurysms or dissections have immediate access to advanced life-saving treatments. UPMC’s surgeons are world-renowned in aortic surgery for people with Marfan syndrome, Loeys Dietz syndrome, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
- Heart Transplant Program. Heart transplant surgeons treat the most complex, high-risk people.
Robotic And Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery: The New Standard
Nov 19, 2021Cedars-Sinai Staff
The Smidt Heart Institute is leading the way in robotic and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Robotic and minimally invasive heart surgery involves making small incisions in the side of the chest between the ribs to reach the heart, which is a preferred method to the traditional approach of cutting through the breastbone.
Robotic and minimally invasive procedures can be performed for various pathologies of the heart and aorta. Compared to standard open-heart surgery, these procedures result in less pain and quicker recovery times. For many patients, this means a faster return to both work and normal physical activity.
“The Department of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai is world-renowned for its continued innovation in robotic and minimally invasive heart surgery.”
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Minimally Invasive Heart Surgical Procedures
Memorial Hermann Health System is at the forefront of advancing heart health in Houston. Our team of affiliated cardiologists, electrophysiologists, cardiothoracic and vascular surgeons, clinicians, researchers and educators is experienced at developing and perfecting innovative, minimally invasive techniques to provide the best possible outcomes and patient experience.
For many patients, minimally invasive procedures offer a beneficial alternative to traditional open-heart surgery. Our goals are to provide an accurate diagnosis, relieve your symptoms and improve your quality of life. With a patient-centered approach, leading-edge technology and high-quality care, minimally invasive surgical procedures can get you back to enjoying your daily activities as quickly as possible.
What Happens During Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery
During minimally invasive heart surgery, a cardiac surgeon will:
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How Do I Prepare For A Minimally Invasive Aortic Valve Replacement
As you plan for the surgery, you and your doctor will decide what kind of valve will work best for you. Your surgeon will replace your valve with a biological valve or a mechanical valve.
- Biological valves are made mainly from pig, cow, or human heart tissue. Biological valves may not last as long as mechanical valves, but have less risk for blood clots.
- Mechanical valves are man-made. People with mechanical valves need to take blood-thinning medicine for the rest of their lives because these valves increase the risk for blood clots. Mechanical valves also increase the risk for infection.
Talk with your doctor about how to prepare for your upcoming surgery. Remember the following:
- Avoid eating or drinking anything after midnight before your surgery.
- Try to stop smoking before your operation. Ask your doctor for ways to help.
- You may need to stop taking certain medicines before your surgery. Follow your doctors instructions if you usually take blood-thinning medicines like warfarin or aspirin.
You may need to arrive at the hospital the afternoon before your operation. This is a good time to ask any questions you have about the procedure. You may need some routine tests before the procedure to assess your health before surgery. These may include:
- Coronary angiogram