Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 11/24/2009
Post-operative treatment for arrhythmias demonstrates 90% of patients are arrhythmia-free at the end of one year. A study of 245 patients published in 2001, demonstrated a 98% event free survival rate for patients after one year. After five years,...
80% of patients had remained event free.
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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 2006, 2,192 heart transplantations were performed in the United States. There are 257 transplant hospitals in the United States, 135 of which perform heart transplantations. (http://www.unos.org/)
From: Unos.org
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