Type of Surgery
Information

Last updated: 11/24/2009
Patients are not limited by age, race or sex when being evaluated for myocardial resection surgery. Patients who experience angina, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, and pulmonary edema (fluid on the lungs) are candidates for this procedure. Contraindications—conditions...
in which the surgery is not recommended—include right heart failure, elevated left ventricular enddiastolic pressures, and pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the circulation around the lungs).
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In addition to showing how a myocardial infarction (heart attack) occurs, this narrated animation also shows how atherosclerosis is caused and how it can affect the coronary arteries.
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Other Information
Myocardial resection is a surgical procedure in which a portion of the heart muscle is removed.
Purpose
Myocardial resection is done to improve the stability of the heart function or rhythm. Also known as endocardial resection, this open-heart surgery is done to destroy or remove damaged areas of the heart that cause life-threatening heart rhythms. This procedure is often performed in people who have had a heart attack, in order to prevent future rapid heart rates. It is also used in people who have Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (a condition resulting in abnormal heart rhythm).
After receiving a general anesthetic, an incision will be made in the chest to expose the heart. When the exact source of the abnormal rhythm is identified, it is removed. If there are areas around the source that may contribute to the problem, they can be frozen with a special probe to further insure against dangerous heart rates. The amount of tissue removed is so small, usually only 2 or 3 millimeters, that there is no damage to the structure of the heart. On some occasions, aneurysms of the heart wall are removed as well.
Other Information
In the United States, 74.2 percent of heart transplantation patients are male, 68.4 percent are white, 24.7 percent are younger than age 35, 20.0 percent are ages 35–49, and 55.3 percent are age 50 or older.
From: American Heart Association
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