Category Archives: Heart Surgery

Each day, thousands of people in the U.S. have heart surgery. There are many different types of heart surgery. Surgeries may be used to

– Repair or replace the valves that control blood flow through the heart’s chambers
– Bypass or widen blocked or narrowed arteries to the heart
– Repair aneurysms, or bulges in the aorta, which can be deadly if they burst
– Implant devices to regulate heart rhythms
– Destroy small amounts of tissue that disturb electrical flow through the heart
– Make channels in the heart muscle to allow blood from a heart chamber directly into the heart muscle
– Boost the heart’s pumping power with muscles taken from the back or abdomen
– Replace the damaged heart with a heart from a donor