What is Redo/re-operative Heart Surgery?
Redo or re-operative heart surgery is becoming much more common as patients live longer as a result of initial heart surgery. Redo heart surgery is recommended to improve your quality of life by helping the heart to function more efficiently.
Conditions such as an aneurysm are progressive diseases that usually aggravate over time and require constant management to avoid complications and death. Apart from this, surgery may be repeated to repair a flaw in the reconstruction method or replace a degenerated or dysfunctional prosthetic valve.
Indications of Redo/re-operative Heart Surgery
Re-operative heart surgeries may be performed for the following:
- Heart valve repair (aortic and mitral)
- Bypass surgery
- Aneurysm (bulging of blood vessels) repairs
- Prosthetic mitral valve endocarditis (inflammation of inner heart layer due to artificial cardiac valve)
Procedure of Redo/re-operative Heart Surgery
The surgeries can be performed as:
- Open: a long incision is made in the chest and requires the separation of the breastbone
- Minimally invasive techniques: 3 to 4 small incisions are made in the chest
- Percutaneous method: chest cavity is accessed through a needle puncture on the skin
Less invasive procedures are preferred because of the reduced hospital stay, pain and recovery time.
A redo operation can provide longer life, less chest pain, less fatigue and more energy as you age.