The Facts and Process of Heart Valve Surgeries
September 28th, 2009 by heart_health
Seeing that it’s the most major organ in the body and the one that makes the rest of the body work, when something bad happens to the heart, fear is an instant reaction. Heart valve disease is when a valve in the heart doesn’t work the way it should. It may be blocked from opening all the way so not permitting blood flow to happen the way it wants to for the body to work the way it should. When this occurs, heart valve replacement is a choice to patch up the problem.
Each year, over 250.000 heart valve replacement surgeries are performed with only 2.4% ending fatally. That may appear like a high %, but when dealing with any surgery on the heart, it is highly low in all reality. Each day we engage in activities that are just as dangerous. Driving a vehicle, flying in an airplane, and crossing the street are all activities that could end fatally but typically don’t. A method to dispel any fear you have over this surgery is to recollect that and go into it with the positive outlook of how this is another possibly perilous activity you will do, but tell yourself that the danger of it being fatal is too tiny to chance not having it done. If you need the surgery, get it done.
One main problem that would lead you to need heart valve surgery is called aortic stenosis. This happens when a valve in your heart chamber doesn’t open fully. It could occur from scarring or calcium deposits forming, but when a valve doesn’t open totally, less blood flows thru or it has to flow thru a smaller chamber so not getting to the subsequent chamber. When this happens, there are 2 possible surgeries that will occur. They can repair the valve meaning correcting the part that’s hurt or they can replace it meaning removing the diseased valve and replacing it with one that works.
The surgery sounds much scarier than it actually is. When heart valve replacement is needed, the doctors put you under anesthesia so you are not awake during it and then they physically stop your heart from thrashing but have a machine continue pumping the blood thru your body. They then make an incision above your aorta, do the needed repairs and then sew you back up. The final scar(s) will be tiny so there is truly nothing to stress about.
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