Coronary Heart Disease Treatment: Common Medical Procedures And Surgeries

Decades of research into coronary heart disease have led to the development of several medical procedures and surgeries that can be used to treat the disease. Here, we'll take a look at the most common medical procedures and surgeries administered to patients with coronary heart disease.

Angioplasty

Angioplasty is a procedure in which a special tube is attached to a deflated balloon that is then inserted up to the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply the heart with oxygenated blood. Once there, the balloon is inflated, which helps widen blocked areas of the blood vessels that allow the blood to flow up to the heart muscles.

An angioplasty can be combined with a stent implantation to keep the artery open, which reduces the risk of another blockage. Angioplasties are considered to be less invasive, as they do not require the surgeon to open up the body. A newer angioplasty procedure makes use of a laser tip to widen a blocked artery by using pulsating beams of light to essentially destroy the plaque build-up. The laser tip is attached to the catheter.

How long does an angioplasty last?

Depending on whether or not a stent is placed, the whole procedure can take anywhere from 30 minutes to multiple hours. You may need to stay at the hospital overnight.

How is an angioplasty beneficial?

An angioplasty can benefit patients with coronary artery disease in several ways:

• It significantly increases your blood flow through a blocked artery
• It reduces chest pain (also known as angina)
• It increases your ability to engage in physical activity (which is reduced when a patient experiences angina or ischemia)
• It can be used to open up neck and brain arteries, helping prevent incidences of stroke.

Artificial heart valve surgery

Artificial heart valve surgery, or a heart valve replacement surgery, involves replacing an abnormal heart valve with a healthy heart valve. Patients who undergo artificial heart valve surgery will have their heart-valve function restored.

Atherectomy

An atherectomy is similar to angioplasty, aside from the fact that the catheter features a rotating shaver on its tip. This shaver removes plaque from the artery.

How is an atherectomy beneficial?

Atherectomy is conducted to help improve blood flow through a blocked artery by removing plaques from the arteries. Another benefit of  an atherectomy is that is can be conducted in the major arteries of the neck (the carotid arteries) in order to reduce of risk of developing a stroke.

Bypass surgery

A bypass surgery is used to treat blocked arteries of your heart by taking arteries from other regions of your body and using them to “bypass” the blood from the blocked region of an artery to an unblocked part, allowing the blood to flow to your heart muscle.

How long will I be in the hospital if I undergo bypass surgery?

You will likely stay in the hospital for several days after bypass surgery.

What are the benefits of bypass surgery?

Bypass surgery can be used to reroute blood in multiple blood vessels depending on how many are found to be narrowed. Bypass surgery is actually one of the most effective procedures carried out to help manage blood flow to the heart muscle. It also:

• Increases the supply of oxygenated blood to the heart
• Relieves angina (chest pain)
• Decreases the risk of a heart attack
• Improves the patient’s ability to engage in physical activity

Cardiomyoplasty

A cardiomyoplasty is a currently still experimental procedure in which the skeletal muscles are extracted from the patient’s back or abdomen and wrapped around the heart. This muscle, which is stimulated by a pace-marker type device, helps improve the pumping function of the heart.

What are the benefits of cariomyoplasty?

The biggest benefit of undergoing cardiomyoplasty is that it increases the pumping motion of the heart.

Heart transplant

A heart transplant is a last-resort procedure in which a damaged heart is taken out and replaced with a healthy heart from an organ donor.

What are the benefits of undergoing a heart transplant?

Studies have shown that undergoing a heart transplant can help restore heart health in certain individuals. The procedure is sometimes the only option, and can be life-saving.

Minimally invasive heart surgery

Minimally invasive heart surgery is an alternative to bypass surgery in which tiny incisions (through which small instruments are passed from the ports) are made in the chest and then chest arteries or veins from your legs bypass the clogged artery and attack your heart. When conducting the procedure, the surgeons view the operations on a video monitor rather than looking at them directly.

Why is minimally invasive heart surgery conducted?

Minimally invasive heart surgery is done because it helps manage blocked blood flow and improves blood and oxygen to the heart, helps relieves angina, decreases the risk of a heart attack and improves patients' ability to be physically active.

Radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is conducted to help treat abnormal heart rhythms. Radiofrequency ablation is a procedure in which a catheter is put in through veins and guided to the heart muscle using real-time X-rays that are shown on the video screen. The catheter is put at the site inside the heart cells, which will emit electrical signals using radiofrequency energy. Targeted heart cells can then be destroyed.

Why is radiofrequency ablation conducted?

Radiofrequency ablation is conducted as a treatment for many types of irregular heartbeats, known as arrhythmias.