Surgery Notes

Posts Tagged ‘What is Heart Surgery?’

Surgery on the heart valves can repair or even replace them with prostheses that can be entirely synthetic or biological materials. The latter can involve using tissue from human donors or animals.

Of the four valves are in the heart, the least affected in the adult is the pulmonary valve. Their involvement is almost exclusively congenital problems are often solved through interventions in childhood.

The mitral valve and aortic valve, which are respectively the inlet and the outlet valve of the left ventricle are the most affected in adult life are those having to open and close more than 36 million times a year supporting great pressure are subject to more wear and stress.

In addition to potential defects on these two valves, fortunately almost eradicated in Spain rheumatic fever was the most common cause of problems in the functioning of these valves.

The heart as a muscular pump, needs to be fed to maintain their function. Food and oxygenation of the heart muscle is achieved through the coronary arteries and their branches. There is a right coronary and left coronary artery, which are divided into many interconnected branches reaching all parts of the heart.

The coronary arteries can be affected by the so-called atherosclerosis or hardening with partial or complete blockage of the arteries. Atherosclerosis occurs when fatty deposits form hard, called plaque inside the arteries, producing a reduction in blood flow.

The presence of interconnections between the branches of the coronary arteries, can in some cases the presence of a complete or partial obstruction of a coronary branch is compensated by the neighboring branches.

When this obstruction can not be compensated, dependent areas of the heart muscle of the obstructed artery does not receive enough blood. This lack of irrigation is the cause of pain called angina or crushing chest. If lack of irrigation is complete and takes some time can cause death of muscle areas in the so-called myocardial infarction.

The heart can be defined as a muscular pump about the size of a fist that pumps blood continuously to distribute throughout the body. It is composed of four compartments or chambers, two atria or receiving chambers and two ventricles or chambers of expulsion. Each ventricle has an inlet valve or inlet and outlet valve.

The right atrium connects to the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve and right ventricular outflow is the pulmonary valve. Venous blood throughout the body, with little oxygen reaches the right atrium and is pumped by the right ventricle to the lungs so it can oxygenate arterial blood and become red and very oxygen.

The left atrium connects with the left ventricle through the mitral valve and left ventricular outflow is the aortic valve. Oxygenated blood into the lungs reaches the left atrium and is pumped at high pressure into the left ventricle to the aorta artery with all its branches to irrigate and oxygenate the entire body.

Problems with heart valves are usually, in most cases, caused by congenital defects, changes caused by rheumatic fever, infection, or degeneration and wear their own tissues with age.

The involvement of the valves may cause it do not open properly with hindering blood flow, stenosis, or not close completely causing a loss, regurgitation, or a combination of both, double valve lesions.

The valve malfunctions can affect more than one valve and is very common for two valves are affected and even three valves may be damaged. Is an exception that is required to act on the four heart valves.

When a valve failure, the heart is forced to make a much greater. As a general rule we can say that the failure of the valves occurs in a progressive and evolving over the years with what the heart is adapting and accommodating to excessive work to do. That’s why after years of supporting the added work is when the heart can begin to show signs of failure and symptoms begin to appear. On the other hand, when the failure or valvular rupture is sudden, the heart does not have time to settle and the symptoms develop much more severe.

Medications can not get the valves to open properly or leaks are gone, this means that when clinical conditions require any need for surgery to treat valvular affectations.