Surgical treatment Without the Heart-lung Machine for Congenital and Acquired Heart Defects treatment
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Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery ranks among the top German medical facilities specializing in the surgical treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system and lung cancer! The department offers the full range of surgical services for the treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system, respiratory tract, including heart and lung transplantation, artificial heart implantation. The therapeutic options include aortic surgery, coronary artery bypass grafting, transplantation surgery, surgical treatment of heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias), minimally invasive surgery, surgical treatment of the heart valves, including reconstructive interventions. All operations are performed using state-of-the-art technology and in accordance with the current recommendations of professional societies.
Department of Cardiac Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiac Surgery ranks among the top German medical facilities specializing in the surgical treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system! The department offers the full range of services in this medical field. Many heart surgeries are performed using minimally invasive technique, which has a positive effect on the healing of an operative wound. The patient also experiences less pain and the hospitalization period is significantly reduced. Thanks to long experience of doctors and modern equipment, the department provides excellent results in the treatment of heart pathologies.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Vascular Surgery
The Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Vascular Surgery provides effective surgical treatment for diseases of the heart, respiratory system, and blood vessels. The team of cardiac surgeons operates on patients with heart valve pathologies, coronary heart disease, heart failure, and heart rhythm disturbances. In the field of thoracic surgery, the key focus is on the surgical removal of lung tumors and lung metastases. The specialists in this area also perform surgery to repair chest wall deformities. In the field of vascular surgery, interventions for abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms are most often performed here. The department's vascular surgeons are also exceptionally competent in the treatment of peripheral occlusive arterial disease. A great advantage for the department's patients is that almost all surgical interventions are performed using minimally invasive techniques, so there is no need for a long postoperative recovery. The department's operating rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art technology. This allows for effective and safe treatment. The priority is always personalized medical care for patients.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery ranks among the top German medical institutions specializing in the surgical treatment of heart diseases! The department offers the full range of first-class medical care for patients with diseases of the heart and thoracic organs that require surgical treatment. The availability in the department of advanced technical base allows for the most sparing treatment and minimally invasive surgery. The main focuses of clinical practice include coronary artery bypass grafting, modern procedures for heart valve reconstruction and replacement, treatment of diseases of the thoracic aorta, as well as treatment of heart failure by implanting an artificial heart.
Department of Adult and Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Adult and Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery is included in the ranking of the top German departments specializing in the surgical treatment of cardiovascular diseases! The department offers the full range of treatment of various diseases of the heart, blood vessels, organs of the respiratory system in adults and children. As part of the German Heart Competence Centre Tuebingen, the department is distinguished by the outstanding quality of medical care, competent specialists, as well as high-tech equipment of the latest generation.
Department of Cardiac Surgery and Heart Transplantation
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiac Surgery and Heart Transplantation ranks among the top German departments specializing in heart interventions! The department offers the full range of surgical treatment for cardiac pathologies of varying severity. A large number of the operations performed in the department are coronary artery bypass grafting and heart valve interventions, which are most often performed using minimally invasive techniques. The team of the department's surgeons is proud of their high success rates in surgical treatment and the prestigious quality certificates of the German Cardiac Society in the field of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and heart failure treatment. In addition, the medical facility enjoys the status of one of the best in the international medical arena for heart transplantation and the implantation of mechanical hemodynamic heart support systems. The department provides medical care in accordance with the very latest standards and offers the highest possible safety for patients. The surgical treatment is accurately planned and, if possible, operations are performed using sparing surgical techniques, without thoracotomy.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery ranks among the top medical facilities in the field of its specialization! The department offers all options of modern surgery for the treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system and thoracic organs. The department widely uses modern minimally invasive techniques, which are considered the gold standard of surgery. Since its founding in 1976, the department has performed more than 40,000 open heart interventions. The department's surgeons also have vast experience in the field of implantation of the artificial heart and mechanical heart support systems. All operations are carried out in strict accordance with the protocols of professional societies.
Department of Adult and Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Adult and Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery is included in the ranking of the top departments in Germany specializing in the surgical treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system! The department offers the surgical treatment of all congenital and acquired heart diseases in adulthood, including heart transplantation, as well as the treatment of respiratory diseases in adults and children. It performs more than 2,000 interventions on the heart and about 600 operations on the lungs every year.
Department of Cardiac Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiac Surgery ranks among the top German departments specializing in the surgical treatment of heart diseases! The department offers the full range of modern surgical interventions for the treatment of diseases of the heart, coronary vessels and thoracic aorta (with the exception of transplantation of the thoracic organs). An excellently trained team of specialists and state-of-the-art technologies guarantee the best medical care adapted to the individual needs and wishes of patients.
Department of Cardiac Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiac Surgery ranks among the top German departments specializing in cardiac surgery! The department offers the full range of surgical interventions for the treatment of cardiac pathologies. The main priorities of the department include aortic surgery, heart transplantation, minimally invasive bypass grafting and heart valve surgery. It performs more than 2,500 surgical interventions every year. In especially complex clinical cases, all necessary specialists from the related fields are involved.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery ranks among the top medical facilities of this kind in Germany! The department offers the full range of surgical treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system and thoracic organs in adults. Of particular interest is sparing minimally invasive surgery, particularly, heart valve interventions and coronary artery bypass grafting. Such interventions are carried out using the innovative da Vinci surgical system. The video-assisted thoracic surgical methods are widely used in the surgical treatment of thoracic diseases as well. All the department's specialists have excellent qualifications and vast clinical experience, which in combination with the cutting-edge technologies allows doctors to achieve the outstanding treatment results.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
The Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery covers the entire range of top-class medical services in this field. Special attention is paid to minimally invasive operations, which, along with the optimal functional result, ensure minimal traumatization, fast recovery and the absence of a cosmetic defect. The optimal type of therapy is selected in collaboration with the specialists from all the necessary related disciplines and adapts to the specific clinical indications of the patient.
University Hospital of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Department of Adult and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
The Department of Adult and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery offers all the possibilities of modern surgery for treating heart disease, including a heart transplant. The department's team of surgeons admits both adult patients and children. The department annually performs more than 3,500 operations, including minimally invasive ones. The most common diseases in the clinical practice of cardiac surgeons include heart failure, coronary artery disease, heart arrhythmias, and heart valve and aortic pathologies. The department's operating rooms have all the resources for efficient and safe heart surgery. The patients' health is in the safe hands of a highly qualified team of doctors and nursing staff, numbering more than 155 employees. The main task of surgeons is to provide an optimal treatment based on the very latest advances in modern medicine. At the same time, the specialists always show a humane attitude towards a patient, considering his individual needs and wishes.
Department of Adult and Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Adult and Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery ranks among the top German departments specializing in the surgical treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system! The department offers the full range of surgical treatment of diseases of the heart, lungs, and other thoracic organs. The department has a long and successful history. It has performed more than 50,000 heart surgeries since 1938. The first open-heart surgery under hypothermia, the first heart valve replacement surgery, as well as the first pacemaker and cardioverter-defibrillator implantations in Germany should be mentioned among the department’s achievements.
Department of Cardiac Surgery
According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Cardiac Surgery ranks among the top German medical facilities specializing in the surgical treatment of cardiovascular diseases! The department offers the full service range in the field of cardiac surgery. Despite the fact that the department has long traditions, it has the reputation of one of the most high-tech Cardiology Centers in Europe. The clinical practice involves the use of achievements of modern surgery, particularly, minimally invasive and catheter techniques. Thus, cardiac surgeons achieve excellent results and at the same time guarantee the most sparing treatment and fast recovery for the patient.
Department of Congenital and Acquired Heart Defects, Heart Valve Diseases
The Department of Congenital and Acquired Heart Defects, Heart Valve Diseases offers the full range of diagnostics, outpatient and inpatient treatment of these diseases. The department became the first Center of Excellence in Germany in the field of its specialization and annually treats a large number of native patients and patients from other countries of the world. The department has a wide range of diagnostic options, as well as doctors have vast experience in catheter interventions. The department's medical team makes every effort in order to provide the first-class medical care adapted to individual needs. At the same time, important attention is paid to the psychosocial support of patients.
Cardiac surgery to eliminate congenital heart defects and acquired heart disease can completely get rid of symptoms and avoid arrhythmias and heart failure. This surgery provides good results that last for many years, and possibly for a lifetime. Doctors perform most operations on the open heart, using a heart-lung machine. In many cases, however, doctors can cope without a heart-lung machine, thereby reducing the risk of complications.
If you have been diagnosed with a heart defect, you can undergo your surgical treatment abroad to rely on the highest level of medical care. Whenever possible, doctors will perform surgery or a minimally invasive procedure without the use of a heart-lung machine, although it is not possible to do so in all cases. You can choose a medical care program at the best price on the Booking Health website.
Content
- Why is a heart-lung machine necessary for congenital and acquired heart defects?
- Benefits of the treatment of congenital heart defects and acquired heart diseases without the use of a heart-lung machine
- Where to undergo your surgical treatment for heart disease without the use of a heart-lung machine?
Why is a heart-lung machine necessary for congenital and acquired heart defects?
A heart-lung machine is a device that replaces a person's heart and lungs during surgery. It takes blood from the body, saturates it with oxygen, and returns it.
With the help of a heart-lung machine, a person can do without the work of the circulatory system for a long time. After the device is connected, blood flows around the heart. A doctor can therefore stop the blood flow through it, open the heart cavity, and perform any manipulations (implant an artificial heart valve, close atrial septal defects, close ventricular septal defects, etc.), even if the surgical procedure takes several hours.
The world's first surgery with the use of a heart-lung machine was performed in 1953 to close an atrial septal defect. The first devices caused many complications and were difficult to operate. Modern devices that are used abroad minimally injure blood cells and proteins and also maintain an optimal gas composition of the blood, which helps to avoid oxygen starvation of organs and tissues as well as the accumulation of toxic metabolic products. But even the most advanced devices increase the risk of complications. Therefore, whenever possible, doctors tend to do without the use of heart-lung machines.
Is it possible to perform surgical treatment without the heart-lung machine for congenital and acquired heart defects? Yes, sometimes surgeons can refuse to use the device during surgery. But basically, the heart-lung machine is still needed. It is required in all cases where doctors must open the cavity of the heart.
If the opening of its cavity is not required, the heart-lung machine will not be involved in the treatment of congenital and acquired heart defects. Cancellation of the device is possible if:
- a surgical intervention is performed not on the heart but on large blood vessels;
- doctors enter the heart from inside the blood vessels, not through an incision in the wall of the heart (an endovascular approach);
- a transcatheter thoracoscopic approach is used: doctors enter the heart through a puncture in the chest.
Thus, not all but some congenital and acquired heart defects can be cured without using heart-lung machines. Among the acquired defects, an endovascular technique is most often used to treat aortic valve stenosis, and mitral insufficiency is less commonly treated in this way. Mitral valve prolapse can be repaired with minimally invasive surgery through punctures in the chest to implant artificial chords, which are the strings that hold the heart valve leaflets.
Many congenital heart defects can be treated with endovascular techniques or through chest incisions, but without the use of the heart-lung machine. Surgeons at advanced Cardiac Surgery Centers also perform robot-assisted operations through short incisions between the ribs. This is how a patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defects, atrial septal defects, partial anomalous pulmonary venous drainage, and coarctation of the aorta are treated.
Doctors often perform endovascular procedures to close ventricular and atrial septal defects. These defects are closed with an occluder. If its placement is impossible, even large defects can be closed using a minimally invasive thoracoscopic operation, which is performed abroad using the da Vinci surgical system without the heart-lung machine.
Benefits of the treatment of congenital heart defects and acquired heart diseases without the use of a heart-lung machine
The main advantage of not using a heart-lung machine is that patients can avoid a number of complications that may occur even with the use of state-of-the-art equipment.
The mechanisms of adverse effects of heart-lung machines on the body are as follows:
- mechanical damage to blood cells;
- start of inflammatory processes;
- high blood oxygen levels;
- blood dilution;
- blood cooling is possible;
- non-pulsatile flow that violates the constancy of homeostasis.
When using a heart-lung machine, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome may develop. It is manifested by fever, dysfunction of the heart, lungs, and kidneys, and sometimes neurological disorders.
These risks are minimized at modern hospitals abroad. Modern heart-lung machines use mini-circuits without any cardiotome reservoirs, which reduce tissue damage. New types of oxygenators help maintain the normal gas composition of the blood and almost do not injure its cells. In recent years, leukodepletion (reducing the number of leukocytes) and ultrafiltration techniques have also begun to be applied.
Despite all these advances, it is still best to avoid the use of heart-lung machines if possible. Surgical treatment of heart defects can indeed sometimes be carried out without using the heart-lung machine. However, for the repair of most heart defects with open surgical techniques, the heart-lung machine is necessary.
Where to undergo your surgical treatment for heart disease without the use of a heart-lung machine?
You can travel abroad to treat ventricular septal defects, atrial septal defects, or other heart defects with surgery without the use of a heart-lung machine. Surgeons in developed countries perform modern types of operations, including minimally invasive ones that help cure most heart defects.
The advantages of treatment abroad include the following:
- whenever possible, doctors perform surgery on a beating heart without using a heart-lung machine;
- endovascular procedures are common, which allow for the elimination of many congenital and acquired heart defects without any chest incisions from inside the blood vessels;
- minimally invasive thoracoscopic interventions are performed through short incisions in the chest;
- at many large hospitals, surgical treatment of heart disease is carried out using the da Vinci surgical system;
- treatment abroad is provided with a minimal risk of complications;
- good and long-term surgical outcomes with a low risk of the need for repeat cardiac surgery.
You are welcome to use the Booking Health service to make an appointment for your treatment abroad, find out the cost of treatment, and compare prices at different hospitals. Our website presents the best Cardiac Surgery Hospitals in the world. When you select a medical care program through Booking Health, the cost of treatment will be lower for you. Prices for medical services at foreign hospitals are reduced due to the absence of taxes for foreign patients. The initial cost of treatment will not increase after the start of your medical care program, even if there is a need for additional medical procedures, as insurance will cover the costs.
Medical tourism agency Booking Health will take care of all the arrangements for your treatment abroad at one of the world's best hospitals. Our company's employees will help you select a hospital, contact the hospital administration, and make an appointment on your preferred dates. They will also book a hotel room and airline tickets, translate your medical documents, and arrange your transfer from the airport to the hospital. After the completion of your treatment program, they will take care of your return transfer from the hospital to the airport.
Authors:
The article was edited by medical experts, board-certified doctors Dr. Nadezhda Ivanisova and Dr. Vadim Zhiliuk. For the treatment of the conditions referred to in the article, you must consult a doctor; the information in the article is not intended for self-medication!
Sources:
ECR - European Cardiology Review