Heart Failure Surgery

You can develop heart failure for many reasons, including heart attacks, heart valve disease and heart arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). Sometimes, surgery to treat these conditions can help improve symptoms of heart failure. These surgeries include:

• Coronary artery bypass graft, or bypass surgery, to reroute blood around blocked arteries that cause heart disease.
• Heart valve surgery to repair or replace faulty valves that cause issues such as aortic stenosis and mitral valve regurgitation.

These procedures may require open-heart surgeries. However, some heart problems can be treated using minimally invasive, catheter-based procedures, where a small incision is made in your leg or upper thigh and a tube (a catheter) is guided to your heart. Examples include:

• Coronary angioplasty, also called percutaneous coronary intervention, where your surgeon guides a balloon through a catheter to clear a blocked artery that’s causing or contributing to coronary artery disease.
• Mitral percutaneous repair or replacement, where a new mitral valve is placed inside a damaged valve or repaired.
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), where a new aortic valve is placed inside a damaged valve.
• Tricuspid percutaneous repair or replacement, where a damaged tricuspid valve is repaired or replaced.

Your heart has two chambers called ventricles that pump blood into your major arteries. Your arteries include the aorta, which carries blood to the rest of your body, and the pulmonary artery, which carries blood from your heart to your lungs, where it receives oxygen.

When you have heart failure, your ventricles must work harder to pump blood into your arteries. Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are mechanical pumps that can help your ventricles perform this function.

• A left ventricular assist device (LVAD) helps your left ventricle pump blood into the aorta.
• A right ventricular assist device (RVAD) helps your right ventricle pump blood into your pulmonary artery.
• A biventricular assist device (BiVAD) may be necessary if both your ventricles need support.

For some people, a VAD can serve as a long-term solution to heart failure. In others, however, a VAD is used as a form of temporary support while they wait for a heart transplant.

Like a VAD, a total artificial heart is a mechanical pump that helps your heart pump efficiently. It requires open-heart surgery and is mainly used for people who are waiting for a heart transplant.

A more comprehensive device than a VAD, a total artificial heart replaces the left and right ventricles and the four valves that allow blood to flow between the ventricles and the aorta and pulmonary artery. These devices essentially take over your heart’s function.

During a heart transplant, your cardiovascular surgeon replaces your heart with a healthy donor heart.

To receive a heart transplant, you must meet certain criteria and go through the donor registry process. Members of our heart transplant program team will walk you through the process and help you understand what to expect. You will also have the team’s support throughout your recovery to ensure you have the knowledge and treatments necessary to protect your new heart for as long as possible.