Heart surgery

Your heart acts as the epicenter of all your body's critical functions. Accordingly, it deserves highly specialized care to ensure you are functioning as you should.

Increasingly, minimally invasive procedures can be used to treat serious heart conditions, with less of a postoperative impact on you. This type of surgery is called interventional cardiology and uses catheters to accomplish was once only possible with traditional, open surgery. Typically offering less pain, minimal scarring and a faster recovery, we prioritize catheter-based techniques whenever possible, particularly if your level of health deems you unqualified for open-heart surgery.

Structural heart disease treatment

Encompassing a number of conditions, structural heart disease occurs when the walls and valves of your heart become damaged or diseased. Your heart's valves and muscles act as beams and walls for your heart, and when these structures become damaged, the heart must work harder to pump blood and oxygen and avoid long-term damage. The structural heart program at our hospital focuses on the surgical treatment of heart disease, as well as other vascular conditions.

Our structural heart procedures are performed by both cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists. While performing minimally invasive transcatheter surgery, your surgeon is able to operate from a small incision, from which a catheter is guided to your heart using X-ray imaging.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)

Traditional valve replacement surgery requires an open-heart procedure with a sternotomy, where the chest is surgically opened with a large incision. If you are not eligible for open-heart surgery, TAVR is a minimally invasive alternative.

During the TAVR procedure, doctors are able to insert a new heart valve without removing the old, damaged valve. The TAVR procedure can be performed through very small openings that leave all the chest bones in place.

Transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR)

TMVR is a procedure in which a small device is inserted to clip faulty valve leaflets together. This transcatheter procedure restores proper function and stops blood from flowing backward.

Transcatheter treatment of congenital heart abnormalities

As advanced heart care continues to develop, treatment of congenital heart abnormalities, such as ASD, PFO or VSD, can also be managed with catheters. Once the catheter is in position, a closure device can be used to repair the abnormality.

ASD is a hole in the wall between the two upper chambers of the heart. A condition that begins at birth, it often goes unnoticed, rarely causing problems. However, for a larger hole we may perform surgery or a device closure to prevent damage to the heart and lungs.

Treating ASD may help alleviate symptoms and conditions, such as shortness of breath, swelling of legs or abdomen, skipped heartbeats and cerebrovascular accidents, also known as strokes.

A VSD is a hole between the walls of the heart's large, lower pumping chambers, called ventricles. As a birth abnormality, it is typically evident early in an infant’s life. Occasionally, a VSD may not be diagnosed until one becomes an adult. Most of the time it closes on its own, but sometimes our doctors may need to perform a catheter procedure to close the hole.

People with WPW syndrome are born with an extra electrical pathway between their heart’s upper and lower chambers, which causes a very fast heartbeat. Although it is not life-threatening, WPW syndrome can impact your quality of life.

Most people with this extra pathway have no symptoms, and it is only detected by an electrocardiogram (EKG). If you are experiencing a rapid heartbeat, we may use a catheter ablation to permanently correct it.