Heart and vascular surgery

Having heart surgery can raise many questions, not just for you but your family as well. We meet with your family to answer questions and address concerns, and we teach them about what we're doing and why we're doing it. They'll have team members to lean on and someone they can call upon at any time of the day or night.

Our heart surgeons perform various cardiac procedures, including surgery to repair structural heart abnormalities. Some of the heart surgeries we perform include:

• Aortic valve surgery — This procedure is used to treat aortic stenosis when the valve needs to be replaced. Aortic stenosis is a narrowing of the aortic valve in the heart that causes restricted blood flow through the valve. As a result, the heart contracts harder to pump blood into the aorta.
• Coronary artery bypass grafting — This procedure helps restore blood flow to the heart by taking blood vessels from other body areas. This creates a new blood flow route around the areas affected by the heart condition.
• Maze procedure — This type of heart surgery is performed to treat atrial fibrillation.

Minimally invasive heart surgery

In contrast to traditional surgery, minimally invasive surgery is performed through one or two small incisions aside the rib cage, measuring about three to four inches. You can be back to your regular daily activities as soon as a week without lifting or driving restrictions.

Benefits of minimally invasive surgery

There are several potential benefits to minimally invasive surgery, including:

• Faster return to regular activities or work
• Lower risk of infection
• Minimal scarring
• Shorter hospital stay after surgery
• Shorter recovery time
• Small incisions

Our cardiac rehabilitation program is an exercise and educational program for recovery from heart surgery or a cardiovascular condition. Our goal is to assess and monitor your fitness capacity, provide guidance and design a structured recovery plan.

A subspecialty of cardiac surgery, vascular surgery focuses on treating diseases of the arterial, venous and lymphatic systems with medical therapy and minimally invasive procedures.

Armed with the latest imaging technology to enable minimally invasive surgical techniques, our team performs various procedures offering fewer, smaller incisions and a quicker recovery time, such as:

• Angiography — This procedure involves injecting dye during an X-ray to examine blood flow in the arteries.
• Angioplasty or stents — This minimally invasive procedure can reduce or resolve blockage in larger arteries.
• Carotid angiography or stents — This procedure can unblock carotid artery using a balloon.
• Peripheral angioplasty — This procedure is used to open blocked arteries or remove blood clots in the legs.
• Peripheral stents — This procedure restores blood flow to the leg muscle.
• Phlebectomy — This procedure is used to remove varicose veins on the surface of the legs.
• Sclerotherapy — This procedure treats spider and varicose veins.