Have you been through a heart bypass surgery lately? Or your doctor has advised you to get one as soon as possible? A person can have lot of questions before going for Heart Bypass Surgery for the very first time, if that person is you continue reading this blog post for most useful information you’ll ever get!
What is Heart Bypass Surgery?
Every heart disease plays a very crucial role for our well-being. Heart bypass surgery, or coronary artery bypass, it is performed to improve blood flow of your heart. A surgeon uses blood vessels taken from another area of your body to bypass the damaged arteries.
Did you know that doctors perform approximately 200,000 such surgeries in the United States each year? The heart bypass surgery is done when coronary arteries are blocked or damaged. These arteries supply your heart with oxygenated blood. If these arteries are blocked or blood flow is restricted, the heart doesn’t work properly. And it can lead to heart failure.
Ways to Determine the Need of Heart Bypass Surgery
There are several reasons why heart bypass surgery is must for you depending on your health conditions. Although, there are some medical conditions which can complicate surgery or eliminate it as a possibility.
Conditions that can cause complications include:
The above mentioned disease might complicate things for you. Also, you should discuss your family medical history and any medication you’ve been taking. It is better to get a planned surgery than emergency surgery for best results.
Risk Factors in Heart Bypass Surgery
There can be a lot of risk when it comes to heart surgeries but most common ones are listed below:
- Risk of internal bleeding: In heart surgeries about 30 percent of patients require blood transfusions after the surgery. Although, it is very rare to see severe bleeding after which additional surgery is required.
- Heart rhythm problems: It is been examined after heart bypass surgeries that Atrial fibrillation (a condition in which the upper chambers of the heartquiver rather than beating properly) is one of the common complication of coronary bypass surgery and which can lead to blood clots that form in the heart and that can travel to other parts of the body. There might be other possible heart rhythm problem but are very rare to be found.
- Blood clots: One of the most crucial part comes when blood clots are formed, it can cause a heart attack, stroke, or lung problems.
- Infections after surgery: As rare as it could be, this problem occurs in only about 1 percent of coronary bypass patients.
- “Post-pericardiotomy syndrome: It is a condition which appear in about 30 percent of patients from a few days to 6 months after coronary bypass surgery. The symptoms are fever and chest pain.
- Kidney, or renal, failure. In much observed cases coronary bypass surgery may damage the functioning of a patient’s kidneys, although it is temporary.
- Reactions to anesthesia. Quiet rare factor but when a surgery is performed the patient is “asleep,” patients may have reactions to the anesthesia, including difficulty breathing.
- Death. Not observed widely but after coronary bypass surgery there is a possibility of in-hospital death which occurs typically by heart attack or stroke.
What are the alternatives to heart bypass surgery?
Are you looking for alternatives you can take for heart surgeries? As medical science have advanced, there are more alternatives to heart bypass surgery have become available today.
Balloon angioplasty
As creepy as it sound but Balloon angioplasty is the best alternative that’s most likely to be recommended by doctors. In this treatment, a tube is threaded through your blocked artery. After which a small balloon is inflated to widen the artery. And a small metal scaffold, also known as a stent, will be left in place. A stent keeps the artery from contracting back to its original size. Although, Balloon angioplasty may not be as effective as heart bypass surgery, but it’s less risky.
Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP)
Another great alternate of heart bypass is EECP which involves compressing blood vessels in the lower limbs. It increases blood flow to the heart, and extra blood is delivered to the heart with every heartbeat.
It is some sort natural way as with time some blood vessels may develop extra “branches” that will deliver blood to the heart.It is administered daily for a period of one to two hours over the course of seven weeks.
Medications
Medications might also become favorable for you. Also, it can be considered before resorting to methods such as heart bypass surgery. You can use cholesterol-reducing drugs to slow plaque buildup in your arteries.
Your doctor may also recommend a daily dose of low-dose aspirin (baby aspirin) to help prevent heart attacks. Aspirin therapy is very effective in people with a prior history of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (such as heart attack or stroke).Please note not to get into self-medication process it is highly not recommended.
Diet and lifestyle changes Big thumbs up for this alternate as it have zero side-affects! Healthy lifestyle should be your concern, as it is also prescribed by the American Heart Association (AHA). Watch your food intake and foods to avoid after coronary bypass surgery should be your biggest concern, eating a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids and low in saturated and low fats helps your heart stay healthy.
