If medication is not enough for your heart disease, you might have to choose surgery. Heart disease surgery sounds like complex, but it could be fairly simple such as an angioplasty and stents. The complex surgery includes bypass and valvuloplasty surgery. No matter how simple or complex the surgery is, the heart disease surgeries always have risk. It is because the surgery will repair the heart that causes the body to break down, while the heart is the most important organ in our body.
When the coronary arteries become blocked, the problem may be treated by creating a new pathway for the blood flow to the heart. Bypass surgery includes taking an artery and grafting the artery in place on each side of the blockage. It is a detour for the blood to go around the blockage. The blood vessels from other parts of the body, such as arms, legs and chest, can be used as the grafting blood vessels. Since there are other ways that carry blood to those organs, grafts from those areas are relatively safer to use.
Thoracic arteries are the most commonly used grafts in heart disease treatment surgery, as they are found to have very good long term results. The arteries have their own rich in oxygen blood supplies and can be kept pretty much intact at their beginning point. The surgeon sews the arteries into the coronary artery just below the blockage. The artery can always be accessed primary incision.
Saphenous veins used in heart disease treatment surgery are found in the leg and sewn from the aorta to the coronary artery just below the blockage. This type of heart disease treatment is minimally invasive and usually results in less scarring, as well as a quicker recovery.
The two arteries in the arm, the radial and the ulnar, are sometimes used for heart disease treatment surgery when a bypass is necessary. The ulnar artery usually delivers adequate blood flow and there are no adverse side effects when the ulnar is removed for the bypass procedure. The radial artery can be used based on positive preop and introp tests. When the radial is to be used, an incision is made in the forearm, about two inches from the elbow to about one inch from the wrist. It usually includes 6 months of a prescribed medication named calcium channel blocker. The medication helps keep the artery open. An after operation side effect with this type of heart disease treatment is wrist numbness for the short term.
It is not uncommon for multiple coronary arteries to be part of a bypass system used during heart disease treatment surgery. Diagnostic tests run as a prelude to heart disease treatment surgery will be the basis of the bypass method chosen. Depends on the size, location, degree of blockage, and the rough size of the coronary artery, the heart surgeon will choose which grafts are suitable to use. In United States, bypass surgery is commonly used in the heart disease treatment.