Cardiovascular Surgery

CABG surgery treats coronary artery disease—fat buildup in the blood vessels to your heart, which sometimes causes chest pain and weakness. Your surgeon takes healthy, unclogged blood vessels from your leg and connects them to your heart. Blood begins to flow through the healthy vessels instead of the clogged arteries, relieving your symptoms and reducing the risk of a heart attack.

If you have arrhythmia (unusual heart rhythm) or heart failure, your cardiologist may recommend a device that keeps your heart beating steadily. You may benefit from one of these:

• Pacemaker – Includes a tiny generator that sends mild electrical signals to your heart when needed
  • Dual-chamber pacemaker – Stimulates both the right atrium (upper chamber) and right ventricle (lower chamber)
  • Micra™ wireless pacemaker – Is the smallest device of its kind, has a lower risk of side effects and allows you to enjoy more physical activities than traditional pacemaker
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) – Does the job of a pacemaker but also delivers a higher-energy shock if needed to prevent cardiac arrest (life-threatening emergency in which your heart stops)
  • Biventricular ICD – Makes the left and right sides of your heart beat in sync

    A cardiac surgeon places the device in your chest, where it remains over the long term. You can trust us for experienced, high-quality care because Southern Ohio Medical Center places more pacemakers than any other hospital in the region.

Your aortic and mitral valves help control the flow of blood through your heart. As you age, they may develop problems such as:

• Prolapse (regurgitation) – Condition in which blood leaks backward through a valve because its flaps don’t fully close
• Stenosis (narrowing) – Calcium buildup that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood through a certain valve

If possible, an SOMC surgeon repairs your valve. But if it’s too damaged to repair, your surgeon may replace it with an artificial valve made of metal or natural tissue

An aneurysm happens when a weak area of an artery balloons outward, sometimes due to high blood pressure or high cholesterol. If the aneurysm bursts, you experience internal bleeding, a medical emergency. To prevent it from rupturing, an SOMC vascular surgeon can place a graft that reinforces the weak area.

Depending on your situation, your surgeon places the graft using one of these approaches:

• Endovascular – Involves only a small puncture over a blood vessel, which means you recover sooner
• Open – Requires a large incision and longer recovery period

Hemodialysis takes over the kidneys’ job when they stop working as well as they should. Before you begin treatment, a vascular surgeon may need to create a fistula by connecting an artery and vein, usually in your arm. After the fistula matures, your dialysis team will hook it up to the hemodialysis machine for your blood-filtering sessions.

Your neck has two carotid arteries that send blood to your brain. If fat builds up in these arteries due to high cholesterol, it can reduce the brain’s supply of oxygen, potentially causing a stroke. An SOMC vascular surgeon may recommend carotid stenting or carotid endarterectomy—procedures that help prevent a stroke.

Your IVC is a large vein in your abdomen that blood passes through on its way from your legs to your heart and lungs. Blood clots may form here, blocking the flow of blood and oxygen to your vital organs. A vascular surgeon can place a filter in the IVC to trap large clots and stop them from reaching the heart and lungs.

If you have peripheral artery disease (PAD), fat buildup slows the flow of blood and oxygen through your legs. To treat the condition, an SOMC vascular surgeon creates a new route for blood to bypass (go around) the clogged arteries. Your surgeon uses your own healthy veins or an artificial graft to make the new path for blood to follow. After recovering from bypass surgery, you may walk with less pain and discover that wounds on your feet or legs heal faster than before

If you need injections of medications or fluids to treat a health condition, your doctor may recommend a PowerPort. A vascular surgeon places this port under your skin and connects it to your bloodstream. Health professionals then deliver medication or fluids through the port, so you need fewer needle sticks.

Thrombolytic therapy treats deep vein thrombosis (DVT)—a blood clot in your leg that could travel to your lungs, causing trouble breathing. An SOMC vascular surgeon may inject medicine into a blood vessel to dissolve the clot or use tiny tools to break it up or suck it out. If your blood vessel appears clogged with fat, your surgeon may also inflate a tiny balloon in the vein to widen it and place a miniature tube (stent) to keep the vein open. This procedure improves blood flow through your leg.

VNUS closure uses radio waves to heat, shrink and close varicose veins in just minutes. A vascular surgeon inserts a thin tube called a catheter into a diseased vein. The catheter includes a tiny tool that emits heat, which seals the vein and forces blood to flow through healthier vessels instead. You’ll feel pain relief and return to your usual activities the next day.