Cardiology has progressed a lot over the period. In the past, many cardiac health conditions were untreatable. But nowadays, more and more innovations and happenings have helped cardiology progress. Various healthcare providers play an essential role, working day and night for its betterment, and keyhole heart surgery is an example of that.
When your heart valves are damaged or the heart arteries become narrow, you are often required to undergo a heart surgery either to replace the damaged valve or to bypass the blocked artery. It is also known as a coronary artery bypass graft, CABG.
To perform that, the healthcare providers would incise right from the front of your chest, cut the breast bone, and perform the procedure of valve replacement or bypass surgery. The procedure can prove to be life-saving and helps improve the quality of your life. But it is a big one and needs immense care and efficiency.
It takes a lot of time to heal for the bone to get back to normal and for your stitches to heal. It is an invasive surgery that takes months to heal properly. The incision is up to 18 to 20 cm in conventional open heart surgery, whereas, in keyhole surgery, it is up to 5 to 6 cm. There is quite a lot of difference.
Keyhole heart surgery is the most minimally invasive surgery that can help perform various heart operations without the need to cut your breast bone and give a large incision. In it, the healthcare providers make an incision in the right or the left side of your chest and approach the heart from the natural space between the ribs.
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Why it’s done
Many types of heart procedures may be performed with minimally invasive heart surgery, including:
- Aortic valve replacement
- Atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale closure
- Atrioventricular septal defect surgery
- Coronary artery bypass surgery
- Maze procedure for atrial fibrillation
- Mitral valve repair or replacement
- Saphenous vein harvest for coronary artery bypass surgery
- Tricuspid valve repair or replacement
What Are The Benefits Of Keyhole Heart Surgery?
Keyhole heart surgery is now getting common. It has various benefits such as:
1. Small Incision
The incision size is pretty small compared to open heart surgery. It makes your recovery quite fast. The incision due to the open heart surgery takes a lot of time to heal. You have to do a complete rest post-operatively. Whereas when with keyhole surgery, a little incision is made that heals in a short time.
2. No Cutting Of Breast Bone
You do not need your breast bone cut into two with keyhole heart surgery. Cutting the breast bone into two pieces makes the procedure longer and more painful to cope with. Many people are scared of the very thought of it and feel reluctant to get operated on. With the keyhole surgery, the healthcare providers will approach your heart from the right or the left side of the chest and the gap between your ribs.
3. Less Cosmetic Problems
The scar from a keyhole surgery will not be right in front of the chest. It will be on the lower side of the breast. So you can wear whatever you want. There are fewer cosmetic problems with it. And the scar is little and on the non- visible part. Therefore you can wear whatever you want post-operatively.
4. Fast Recovery
With keyhole heart surgery, you can get back to your normal activities within some days. Whereas with open heart surgery, you are not allowed to lift any heavy weight until three months.
5. No Chances Of Bone Infection
With open heart surgery, there is always a risk of bone infection – a condition that is difficult to treat and can become problematic. However, with keyhole heart surgery, there is no risk of breast bone infection because it is not involved in this procedure.
Moreover, the incision is small; if any infection occurs, it can recover earlier than open heart surgery. A large part gets affected when the incision is long and infected. Hence recovery is difficult. You should never take postoperative infections lightly. They can become life-threatening by leading to sepsis.
6. Minimal Pain
With open heart surgery, there is mild to moderate pain. But cutting the breast bone may take time to heal. Since in keyhole heart surgery, there is no cutting of breast bone involved, the pain is minimal.
7. Shorter Ventilation Time
When you undergo open heart surgery, the healthcare providers give you deep anaesthesia for a long time. Therefore you need to spend more time on mechanical ventilation. However, with keyhole surgery, you come out of the anaesthesia effect soon. Therefore the ventilation time is short. Soon you can breathe on your own.
8. ICU Stay For A Short Time
Open heart surgery is a big procedure. Even after it is done, you need to spend a long time in an intensive care unit so that the healthcare providers
can monitor your vital parameters. But with keyhole surgery, you do not need to spend a long time in the ICU. You can get out of it soon.
9. Less Blood Loss
In open heart surgery, you lose a lot of blood because the procedure is deep. But in keyhole heart surgery, the blood loss is less compared to it. However, your healthcare provider will manage it.
Risks
Minimally invasive heart surgery can involve risks similar to open-heart surgery, such as:
- Bleeding
- Stroke
- Infection
- Irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias)
- Death
It is also possible that minimally invasive heart surgery will need to be changed to open-heart surgery if your surgeon thinks it’s not safe to continue with the minimal approach.
The Bottom Line
Open heart surgery has helped in saving many lives. But now, a minimally invasive procedure known as keyhole heart surgery is here with fewer risks. When you undergo it, there are fewer chances of infections, you recover earlier compared to CABG, and your breast bone does not get cut. If you were scared of undergoing open heart surgery, now you can opt for keyhole heart surgery.
If you have any heart disease, you must consult your healthcare provider about it. They might suggest open heart surgery or a keyhole heart surgery if your arteries are blocked.
