In what year to do heart surgery. Features of cardiac surgery. Plastic surgery of postinfarction aneurysm of the left ventricle

Open heart surgery is one of the methods of treating cardiovascular diseases, in which special surgical procedures are performed. The general principle is that there is an intervention in the human body in order to carry out the necessary activities on the open heart. In other words, this is such an operation, during which an opening or dissection of the region of the human sternum is performed, affecting the tissues of the organ itself and its vessels.

Open heart surgery

Statistics show that the most common intervention of this type among adults is an operation in which artificial blood flow is created from the aorta to healthy areas of the coronary arteries - coronary artery bypass grafting.

This operation is performed for the treatment of severe coronary heart disease, which occurs due to the development of atherosclerosis, in which there is a narrowing of the vessels supplying blood to the myocardium, their elasticity decreases.

The general principle of the operation: the patient's own biomaterial (a fragment of an artery or vein) is taken and sutured in the area between the aorta and the coronary vessel in order to bypass the place affected by atherosclerosis, in which blood circulation is impaired. After the operation is performed, the blood supply to a certain area of the heart muscle is restored. This artery / vein supplies the heart with the necessary blood flow, while the artery in which the pathological process occurs is bypassed.

Coronary artery bypass grafting

Today, taking into account the progress in medicine, for surgical treatment on the heart, it is enough to make only small incisions in the corresponding area. Another intervention, more complex, will not be needed. Therefore, the concept of "open heart surgery" sometimes misleads people.

Reasons for open heart surgery

The need to replace or restore the patency of blood vessels for the correct flow of blood into the heart.
The need to repair defective areas in the heart (for example, valves).
The need to place special medical devices to maintain the working capacity of the heart.
The need for transplantation operations.

What you need to know about coronary artery bypass surgery?

Time spending

According to medical data, this type of operation takes no less than four and no more than six hours. In rare, especially severe cases, when the operation requires more work (creation of several shunts), an increase in this period may be observed.

The first night after heart surgery and all medical procedures, patients spend in the intensive care unit. After three to seven days have passed (the exact number of days is determined by the patient's well-being), the person is transferred to a regular ward.

Operation Hazards

Despite the qualifications of doctors, no one is immune from unplanned situations. What is the danger of surgery, and what risk can it carry:

infection of the chest due to an incision (this risk is especially high for people who are obese, diabetic, or undergo a second operation);
myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke;
heart rhythm disturbances;
thromboembolism;
increased body temperature for a long time;
cardiac discomfort of any nature;
pain of a different nature in the chest area;
pulmonary edema;
short-term amnesia and other transient memory problems;
loss of a significant amount of blood.

These negative consequences, as statistics show, occur much more often when using an artificial blood supply device.

The risk of unpleasant consequences is always present

Preparation period

In order for the planned operation and general treatment to be successful, it is important not to miss anything significant before they begin. To do this, the patient must tell the doctor:

About medications that are currently being used. These may include medications prescribed by another doctor, or those that the patient purchases himself, including dietary supplements, vitamins, etc. This is important information and should be announced before surgery.
About all chronic and past diseases, health deviations that are currently available (runny nose, herpes on the lips, indigestion, fever, sore throat, fluctuations in blood pressure, etc.).

The patient should be prepared for the fact that two weeks before the operation, the doctor will ask him to refrain from smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, taking vasoconstrictor drugs (for example, nasal drops, ibuprofen, etc.).

On the day of the operation, the patient will be asked to use a special antibacterial soap, which significantly reduces the risk of infection during the operation. In addition, a few hours before the intervention, you can not eat food and drink water.

Operation

When open heart surgery is performed, the following actions are sequentially performed:

The patient is placed on the operating table.
He is given general anesthesia.
When the anesthesia begins to take effect and the patient falls asleep, the doctor opens the chest. To do this, he makes an incision in the appropriate area (usually it is no more than 25 sentiments in length).
The doctor dissects the sternum, partially or completely. This allows access to the heart and aorta.
Once access is secured, the patient's heart is stopped and connected to a heart-lung machine. This allows the surgeon to calmly perform all manipulations. Today, technologies are used that allow in some cases to perform this operation without stopping the heartbeat, while the number of complications is lower. than traditional intervention.
The doctor creates a shunt around the damaged part of the artery.
The cut part of the chest is fixed with a special material, most often with a special wire, but in some cases plates are used. These plates are often used for the elderly or for people who have had frequent surgeries.
After the operation is completed, the incision is sutured.

Postoperative period

After the operation is completed and the patient wakes up, he will find two or three tubes in his chest. The role of these tubes is to drain excess fluid from the area around the heart (drainage) into a special vessel. In addition, an intravenous tube is installed for the flow of therapeutic and nutrient solutions into the body and a catheter into the bladder to remove urine. In addition to the tubes, devices are connected to the patient to monitor the work of the heart.

The patient should not worry, in case of questions or discomfort, he can always contact the medical workers who will be assigned to monitor him and promptly respond if necessary.

The duration of the recovery period depends not only on physiology, but also on the person himself.

Each patient should understand that rehabilitation after surgery is not a quick process. After six weeks of treatment, some improvements can be observed, and only after six months will all the benefits of the operation become visible.

But each patient is able to speed up this rehabilitation process, while avoiding new heart ailments, which reduces the risk of a second operation. To do this, it is recommended to take the following measures:

follow the diet and special diet prescribed by the attending physician;
limit salty, fatty, sweet foods);
devote time to physiotherapy exercises, walks in the fresh air;
stop drinking alcohol frequently;
monitor the level of cholesterol in the blood;
track blood pressure.

If these measures are followed, the postoperative period will pass quickly and without complications. But you should not rely on general recommendations, the advice of your attending physician, who has studied the medical history in detail and is able to draw up an action plan and a diet during the recovery period, is much more valuable.

Heart valve replacement
- Possible complications and recommendations for care

Heart surgery is performed only when necessary. The most common of these are heart valve replacement and coronary artery bypass grafting. The first is necessary if the patient is concerned about valvular stenosis. It should be noted that heart surgeries pose a serious risk to the life of the patient, they are carried out with maximum precision and caution. Heart surgery sometimes leads to numerous problems and complications, in order to avoid this, you can use an alternative technique - valvuloplasty.

The procedure can replace replacement surgery, help normalize the activity of the heart muscles. In the process, a special balloon is inserted into the opening of the aortic valve, at the end this balloon is inflated. It is worth considering: if a person is in old age, valvuloplasty does not give a lasting effect.

Heart valve replacement

To decide on such a procedure, it is necessary to establish a diagnosis.

The operation is carried out immediately or some time after the test.

In some situations, the results indicate that a person needs bypass surgery. Valve replacement is an open procedure that can be performed using minimally invasive surgery. It should be remembered that heart valve replacement is a very complicated procedure, despite this, it is carried out very often.

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Stages of the procedure and further rehabilitation

First you need to open the chest. Next, the doctor connects the patient to a special apparatus that provides artificial circulation. The device temporarily replaces the heart. The patient's circulatory system is connected to the device, after which the natural valve is removed and replaced. When this manipulation is completed, the device is turned off. In most cases, heart surgery goes well, but a scar forms on the organ.

After recovery from anesthesia, the breathing tube is removed from the lungs. If you want to remove excess fluid, such a tube should be left for a while. After a day, it is allowed to drink water and liquid, you can walk only after two days. After such an operation, pain in the chest area can be felt, and on the fifth day the patient is completely discharged. If there is a risk of complications, the hospital stay must be extended by 6 days.

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Can there be complications after valve replacement?

A person can face such problems at different stages of the disease. During the operation, there is a risk of heavy bleeding, in addition, difficulties with anesthesia may arise. Possible risk factors include internal bleeding, seizures, possible infections. A heart attack can also happen, but this happens very rarely. As for the greatest danger, it lies in the appearance of tamponade of the pericardial cavity. This phenomenon occurs when blood fills its heart sac. This causes serious malfunctions in the functioning of the heart. Operations on the heart cannot but affect the general condition of a person. During the rehabilitation period, strict medical supervision is required. The need to visit the surgeon arises after 3-4 weeks after the operation. It is important to maintain the general well-being of the patient. An optimal dose of physical activity should be prescribed, it is important to stick to a diet.

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What is coronary artery bypass grafting?

Coronary artery bypass grafting is a type of surgery that restores blood flow in the arteries. The procedure is necessary to eliminate coronary heart disease. The disease manifests itself when the lumen of the coronary vessels narrows, as a result of which an insufficient amount of oxygen enters the heart muscle. Coronary artery bypass surgery aims to prevent changes in the myocardium (heart muscle). After the operation, he should fully recover and contract better. It is necessary to restore the affected area of the muscle, for this the following procedure is carried out: everyday shunts are applied between the aorta and the coronary vessel that is affected. Thus, the formation of new coronary arteries occurs. They are designed to replace the narrowed ones. After the shunt is applied, blood from the aorta flows through a healthy vessel, thanks to which the heart produces a normal blood flow.

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What is the operation for?

This procedure will be required if the left coronary artery of the vessel that provides flow to the heart is affected. It is also needed if all coronary vessels are damaged. The procedure can be double, triple, single - it all depends on how many shunts the doctor needs. With coronary heart disease, the patient may need one shunt, in some cases two or three. Bypass surgery is a procedure that is often used for atherosclerosis of the heart vessels. This happens when angioplasty is not possible. As a rule, a shunt can serve for a long time, its functional suitability is 12-14 years.

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Carrying out coronary artery bypass grafting

The duration of the operation is 3-4 hours. The procedure requires maximum concentration and attention. The doctor needs to gain access to the heart, for this it is necessary to dissect the soft tissues, then open the sternum and perform a stenotomy. During the operation, a procedure is carried out that is necessary for temporary, it is called cardioplegia. The heart must be cooled with very cold water, then a special solution should be injected into the arteries. To attach shunts, the aorta must be temporarily blocked. To do this, it is necessary to pinch it and connect the heart-lung machine for 90 minutes. Plastic tubes should be placed in the right atrium. Next, the doctor performs procedures that contribute to the flow of blood into the body.

What is routine vascular bypass surgery? This method involves the implantation of special implants into the coronary vessels outside the obstruction, the end of the shunt is sutured to the aorta. In order to be able to use the internal mammary arteries, it is necessary to carry out the procedure with the expenditure of more time. This is due to the need to separate the arteries from the chest wall. Upon completion of the operation, the doctor carefully fastens the chest, for this a special wire is used. With its help, a soft tissue incision is sutured, then drainage tubes are applied to remove residual blood.

Sometimes bleeding occurs after the operation, it continues throughout the day. The installed drainage tubes should be removed after 12-17 hours after the procedure. At the end of the operation, the breathing tube must be removed. On the second day, the patient can get out of bed and move around. Restoration of the heart rhythm takes place in 25% of patients. As a rule, it lasts for five days. As for arrhythmia, this disease can be eliminated within 30 days after surgery, for this conservative methods of therapy are used.

Heart surgery helps to cure many diseases of the cardiovascular system that are not amenable to standard therapeutic methods. Surgical treatment can be carried out in different ways, depending on the individual pathology and the general condition of the patient.

Indications for surgical treatment

Cardiac surgery is a field of medicine in which physicians specialize in studying, inventing methods and performing operations on the heart. The most complex and dangerous cardiac surgery is heart transplantation. Regardless of what type of surgery will be performed, there are general indications:

the rapid progress of the disease of the cardiovascular system;
ineffectiveness of conservative therapy;
untimely visit to the doctor.

Heart surgery makes it possible to improve the general condition of the patient and eliminate the symptoms that disturb him. Surgical treatment is carried out after a complete medical examination and the establishment of an accurate diagnosis.

Do operations for congenital heart defects or acquired. A congenital defect is detected in a newborn immediately after birth or before birth on an ultrasound examination. Thanks to modern technologies and techniques, in many cases it is possible to detect and cure heart disease in newborns in time.

An indication for surgical intervention can also be coronary disease, which is sometimes accompanied by such a serious complication as myocardial infarction. Another reason for surgery may be a violation of the heart rhythm, since this disease tends to cause ventricular fibrillation (scattered contraction of fibers). The doctor should tell the patient how to properly prepare for heart surgery in order to avoid negative consequences and complications (such as a blood clot).

Advice: proper preparation for heart surgery is the key to a successful recovery of the patient and prevention of postoperative complications, such as a blood clot or occlusion of the vessel.

Operation types

Cardiac surgeries can be performed on an open heart as well as on a beating heart. Closed heart surgery is usually performed without affecting the organ itself and its cavity. Open heart surgery involves opening the chest and connecting the patient to a ventilator.

During open heart surgery, a temporary cardiac arrest is performed for several hours, which allows you to perform the necessary manipulations. This technique makes it possible to cure complex heart disease, but is considered more traumatic.

Surgery on a beating heart uses special equipment so that the heart continues to contract and pump blood during surgery. The advantages of this surgery include the absence of such complications as embolism, stroke, pulmonary edema, etc.

There are the following types of heart operations, which are considered the most common in cardiology practice:

radiofrequency ablation;
coronary artery bypass grafting;
valve prosthetics;
Operation Glenn and Operation Ross.

If surgery is performed with access through a vessel or vein, endovascular surgery (stenting, angioplasty) is used. Endovascular surgery is a branch of medicine that allows for surgical intervention under X-ray control and using miniature instruments.

Endovascular surgery makes it possible to cure the defect and avoid the complications that abdominal surgery gives, helps in the treatment of arrhythmias and rarely gives such a complication as a thrombus.

Advice: Surgical treatment of heart pathologies has its advantages and disadvantages, therefore, the most suitable type of operation is selected for each patient, which carries fewer complications for him.

Radiofrequency or catheter ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive surgical intervention that has a high therapeutic effect and minimal side effects. Such treatment is shown for atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, heart failure and other cardiac pathologies.

By itself, arrhythmia is not a serious pathology requiring surgical intervention, but can lead to serious complications. Thanks to RFA, it is possible to restore a normal heart rhythm and eliminate the main cause of its violations.

RFA is performed using catheter technology and under x-ray control. Heart surgery takes place under local anesthesia and consists in bringing a catheter to the necessary part of the organ, which sets the wrong rhythm. Through an electrical impulse under the action of RFA, the normal rhythm of the heart is restored.

Attention! The information on the site is presented by specialists, but is for informational purposes only and cannot be used for self-treatment. Be sure to consult a doctor!

Surgical interventions on the heart are necessary in the treatment of many pathologies of the cardiovascular system that are not amenable to standard drug therapy. With the implementation of surgical treatment, it becomes possible to improve the general condition of the patient and prolong his life. But depending on the pathology, there are different heart operations, which differ in their technique.

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Operations classification

Cardiac surgery is aimed at the treatment of cardiac pathologies through indirect or direct effects on this organ. There are such types of heart operations:

Closed, while the heart itself is not affected. Such operations are performed outside the heart, so they do not need to use special equipment, with the exception of classical surgical instruments. The cavities of the heart remain closed, hence the name of this category.
Open, they require opening the cavities of the heart, which requires the use of special equipment, such as a heart-lung machine. At the time when such a surgical intervention is performed, the heart and lungs are not functioning, which allows the specialist to work with a stopped heart.
X-ray surgery, in which special catheters and devices attached to them are used, they are inserted into the cavity of the heart or the lumen of the vessel to correct the defect. The progress of such an operation is controlled using the monitor screen.

In addition, the types of surgical interventions in cardiac surgery are classified according to the patient's condition and type of defect, as well as the approach to treatment.

According to the patient's condition and the type of defect, there are:

Emergency operations - when you need to act immediately after the diagnosis has become clear, otherwise the pathology threatens the patient's life.
Urgent - they do not require a lightning-fast reaction and a quick start of action. They are prepared for several days, but not longer, due to the high risks of complications or death.
Planned - interventions, the implementation of which is desirable, but not essential in the near future. They are prescribed by surgeons after consultation with patients.

Depending on what approach requires surgical treatment:

Radical - they are aimed at the complete elimination of vices.
Palliative - they are additional or auxiliary, their goal is to improve the patient's condition or prepare him for a radical intervention.

RF ablation

Such surgical intervention as radiofrequency ablation refers to X-ray surgical procedures. It is carried out to improve the condition of the patient suffering from heart failure and arrhythmia, and is characterized by low rates of side effects and complications.

Manipulations during the operation are carried out with special catheters, which are introduced to the patient under local anesthesia. The place of introduction of the catheter, remote from the heart itself, therefore, local anesthesia is carried out at the site of the future introduction of the catheter. In most cases, it is injected into the inguinal vein or femoral artery. After entering the organ, the catheters give electrical impulses to restore the heart rhythm.

Due to such a supply of impulses that eliminate a small area of cardiac tissue that causes pathological excitation of the myocardium, the technique received a second name - cauterization of the heart.

Valve prosthetics

Prosthetic heart valves are used when a valve is insufficiency or stenosis, which interferes with the normal passage of blood through it. Valve replacement can be performed during open surgery, endovascular or mini-access.

In the first case, the patient under general anesthesia is treated with the anterior surface of the chest, the sternum is dissected longitudinally, and the pericardial cavity is opened. To disconnect the heart from blood circulation, the patient is connected to a heart-lung machine, and the myocardium is systematically treated with cold saline during the entire operation in order to avoid its hypoxia.

To install the prosthesis, a longitudinal incision is made, opening the cavity of the heart, the modified structures of the valve are removed, it is replaced with an artificial one, and the myocardium is sutured. After that, the surgeon "starts" the heart with an electrical impulse or by performing a direct heart massage, and turns off the heart-lung machine.

After examining the postoperative view of the heart, pericardium and pleura, blood is removed from the cavities and the surgical wound is sutured in layers.

With endovascular surgery, there is no need to "disconnect" the heart from blood circulation. It is carried out through the leg, namely by introducing a catheter with implantable valves into the femoral artery or vein. After fragments of the damaged valve are destroyed and removed, a prosthesis is put in its place, which straightens itself, having a flexible stent frame.

If the option with a mini-access was chosen, then the surgeon makes an incision 2-5.5 cm long on the anterior wall of the sternum in the area of the projection of the apex of the heart. Then, through the apex of the heart, a catheter is inserted into the organ, advancing it to the affected valve, and replacing it.

In the case of valve replacement, there are several types of implants:

Mechanical - they are made of metal or plastic. When choosing such an implant, the patient in the future will need to constantly take blood thinners.
Biological - they consist of animal tissues and do not require further use of drugs, but after a few decades they need to be replaced.

Installing a pacemaker

In the event that the patient suffers from heart failure, cardiomyopathy and cardiac arrhythmias, the specialist may prescribe a minor operation to install a pacemaker.

The technique for performing such an operation is simple. On the right or left under the left clavicle, local anesthesia is performed with novocaine or lidocaine, after which an incision is made in the skin and subclavian vein to insert a conductor into it, and through it into the superior vena cava and into the heart - an electrode. When the tip of the electrode enters the cavity of the right atrium, the doctor chooses a convenient place for optimal stimulation of the heart muscle, during the search he constantly records ECG changes. When a place is found, the electrode is fixed in the myocardial wall from the inside with the help of antennae or a corkscrew-like attachment. After fixation, it is required to hem a titanium case under the patient's arm, which is installed in the thickness of the pectoral muscle on the left. The wound is sutured and an aseptic bandage is applied.

Coronary artery bypass grafting

Coronary artery bypass grafting is a common heart surgery. It is prescribed when atherosclerotic plaques accumulate on the inner walls of the coronary vessels that feed the heart, disrupting blood flow. In addition, indications can be:

Stable angina 3-4 functional class.
Acute coronary syndrome.
Acute myocardial infarction within the first 4–6 hours of onset of pain.
Severe ischemia without pain.

Before the operation, the patient is intravenously administered sedatives and tranquilizers, and the intervention itself is carried out under general anesthesia. Operative access is done by dissection of the sternum or from a mini-access, making an incision in the intercostal space on the left in the area of the projection of the heart. Manipulation can be carried out both with the connection of the patient to the heart-lung machine, and without it.

The aorta is clamped and connected to the machine, then a vessel is isolated, which will become a bypass. This vessel is brought to the affected coronary artery and its other end is sutured to the aorta. As a result, from the aorta, bypassing the area affected by plaques, the blood will go to the coronary arteries without difficulty.

Depending on how many arteries supplying the heart are affected and at what intervals, the number of shunts can vary from 2 to 5.

When the shunts are fixed, metal staples are applied to the edges of the sternum, soft tissues are sutured and an aseptic dressing is applied. In addition, drainage is removed from the pericardial cavity so that there is an outflow of hemorrhagic fluid.

Operations Glenn and Ross

The Glenn operation is otherwise known as a bidirectional cavopulmonary connection. In this case, anastomosis of the upper part of the superior vena cava with the right pulmonary artery is performed according to the "end to side" principle.

Ross surgery is the replacement of a patient's damaged aortic valve with his pulmonary valve, and the removed pulmonary valve is replaced with a prosthesis.

But now, the diagnosis has been made and the doctors understand what needs to be done next. I would like you to understand well by this moment, what will be discussed when they will explain everything in detail to you, what was found during the examination, what diagnosis was made, what needs to be done and when to choose the best way of treatment.

Here and now the main questions are being decided, and you must exactly imagine what you want to know before you make a decision on which a lot depends.

There are several options for conversation.

You will be offered operation, as the only way out, and doctors believe that it needs to be done urgently.
You are offered an operation, but they say that it can be postponed for a while.
You are denied an operation for a variety of reasons.

You need to understand what is being said and prepare for the conversation. Try to be calm and confident in yourself and in the doctors who want to help you. You must be together, on the same side, in the fight for the future of the child. Discuss everything, but your questions should be literate. Believe me, a lot depends on this too.

What do you need to know about in order to ask the right question? What are the operations? What should the child do? How will it all be? Who will do it? Let's talk about it calmly.

Today, all interventions, or operations, for congenital heart defects can be divided into three categories: "closed" operations, "open" and "X-ray surgery".

✔ Closed Operations These are surgical interventions in which the heart itself is not affected. They are performed outside of it, and therefore do not require the use of any special equipment other than conventional surgical instruments. The cavities of the heart are not “opened” with them, which is why they are called “closed”, and they are widely performed as the first stage of surgical intervention.

✔ Open Operations- These are surgical interventions in which it is necessary to open the cavities of the heart in order to eliminate the existing defect. For this, a special apparatus is used - a heart-lung machine (AIC), or "heart-lungs". For the period of the operation, both the heart and the lungs are switched off from the circulation, and the surgeon gets the opportunity to perform any operation on the so-called "dry", stopped heart.

All the patient's venous blood is sent to the apparatus, where, passing through an oxygenator (artificial lung), it is saturated with oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide, turning into arterial. Then the arterial blood is pumped into the patient's aorta by a pump, i.e. into the systemic circulation. Modern technologies allow all the internal parts of the device (including the oxygenator), with which the patient's blood comes into contact, to be made "disposable", i.e. use them only once and only for one patient. This dramatically reduces the number of possible complications.

Today, thanks to AIC, it is possible without much risk to turn off the heart and lungs from work for several hours (and the surgeon has the opportunity to operate on the most complex defects).

✔ X-ray surgery appeared relatively recently, but, thanks to the incredible progress of modern technologies, they have already taken their rightful place in the arsenal of cardiac surgery. More and more doctors are now using thin catheters, the ends of which are fitted with balloons, patches, or expandable tubes (folded like a folding umbrella). With the help of a catheter, these devices are carried into the cavity of the heart, or into the lumen of the vessel, and then, expanding the balloon, break the narrowed valve with pressure, increase or create a defect in the septum, or, conversely, by opening the patch umbrella, this defect is closed. The tubes are inserted into the lumen of the desired vessel and create a wider lumen. In adults, they even try to pass an artificial aortic valve through the catheter in this way, but so far these are only attempts. Doctors monitor the course of an X-ray surgical operation on the monitor screen and clearly control all manipulations with the probe, and therefore the advantage of such operations is not only less trauma, but also high safety and efficiency. X-ray surgery has not yet supplanted traditional surgical methods, but it is gaining more and more space both as an independent method and as an “auxiliary”, i.e. which can be applied not instead of, but together with the usual operation, sometimes simplifying and supplementing it in many ways.

Depending on the type of defect and the condition of the child, surgical operations can be emergency, urgent and elective, i.e. planned.

emergency heart surgery are the ones that should be done immediately after the diagnosis is made, because any delay threatens the life of the child. With congenital malformations, such situations are not uncommon, especially when it comes to newborns. Here the question of life is often decided by hours and minutes.

Emergency operations- those for whom there is no such insane urgency. The operation does not need to be done right now, but you can calmly wait a few days, prepare both you and the child, but it must be done urgently, because then it may be too late.

Planned, or elective, operation- this is an intervention made at the time chosen by you and the surgeons, when the child's condition does not inspire fear, but the operation, nevertheless, should not be postponed.

No cardiac surgeon will ever suggest surgery if it can be avoided. So, anyway, it should be.

Depending on the approach to surgical treatment, radical and palliative operations are distinguished.

✔ Radical heart surgery is a correction that completely eliminates the defect. It can be done with an open ductus arteriosus, septal defects, complete transposition of the main vessels, abnormal pulmonary vein drainage, atrioventricular communication, Fallot's tetrad and some other defects, in which the heart is fully formed, and the surgeon has the opportunity to completely separate the circulatory circles, while maintaining normal anatomical relationships. Those. the atria will connect to their ventricles through correctly positioned valves, and the corresponding great vessels will depart from the ventricles.

✔ Palliative heart surgery- auxiliary, “facilitating”, aimed at normalizing or improving blood circulation and preparing the vascular bed for radical correction. Palliative operations do not eliminate the disease itself, but significantly improve the child's condition. With some very complex defects, which until recently were generally inoperable, the child will have one, and sometimes two palliative operations, before the final radical stage becomes possible.

During a palliative operation, another "defect" is surgically created, which the child does not initially have, but due to which the circulatory pathways disturbed by the defect in the large and small circles are changed. These include surgical expansion of the atrial septal defect, all variants of intervascular anastomoses - i.e. additional shunts, messages between circles. The Fontan operation is the most “radical” of all such methods, after which a person lives without a right ventricle at all. With some of the most complex heart defects, it is impossible to correct the anatomically, and surgical treatment aimed at correcting blood flow can be called the “final” palliative correction, but by no means a radical operation.

In other words, with heart defects, when the intracardiac anatomy - the structure of the ventricles, the condition of the atrioventricular valves, the location of the aorta and the pulmonary trunk - are so changed that they do not allow for a real radical correction, today's surgery follows the path of eliminating poorly compatible with life of circulatory disorders, and then - long-term palliation. The first stage of this path is saving lives and preparing for further treatment, and protection from future complications, the second is the final stage of treatment. All together - this is a long way to the final operation, and on it one, two, and sometimes three steps must be overcome, but, ultimately, to make the child healthy enough for him to develop, learn, lead a normal life, which this long-term palliation will provide him. Check it out, not so long ago - 20-25 years ago it was simply impossible, and children born with the defects of this group were doomed to death.

Such a “final palliation” is the only way out in many cases; although it does not correct the defect itself, it provides the child with an almost normal life by improving the mixing of arterial and venous blood flows, the complete separation of circles, and the elimination of obstructions to blood flow.

Obviously, the very concept of radical and palliative treatment for some complex congenital heart defects is largely arbitrary, and the boundaries are erased.