Cardiothoracic Surgery
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Surgeries on heart valves or arteries can treat blockages, leaks or infections. Implants of mechanical devices or stents also require heart surgery. While traditional heart surgeries involve incisions along the length of the sternum, other options for patients meeting certain criteria include a partial incision along the sternum, small-incision surgeries and surgeries performed through endoscopy.
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG)
This is the most common type of heart surgery. Healthy arteries and veins, taken from other parts of the body, are used to bypass blocked arteries. It is performed on people with severe coronary heart diseases (CAD).
Valve Repair or Replacement
Valve repair or replacement surgery is used to repair the leaflets in the heat if they do not open-up wide enough or if they do not close tightly.
Arrhythmia Treatment
An arrhythmia is a situation where the heart either beats too fast, too slow or with an irregular rhythm. They are not always dangerous and can be treated with medicines. If medicine is ineffective, surgery is used to place a pacemaker or a defibrillator. Another type of surgery is maze surgery in which new paths are created for the heart's signal to travel through.
Thoracic Surgery
Most general thoracic surgeries address problems with the lungs or esophagus, such as cancer removal, reflux disorders, tumors, hernias and emphysema. Other areas treated with thoracic surgery include the chest wall and the mediastinum – the area containing the heart, which is located between the lungs. Minimally invasive, small-incision procedures often allow for the diagnosis of problems in the chest cavity's organs, tissues and bones before proceeding to more complicated surgeries.
Mediastinoscopy
Mediastinoscopy is most commonly used to detect or stage cancer. It is also ordered to detect infection, and to confirm diagnosis of certain conditions and diseases of the respiratory organs
VATS (video assisted thoracic surgery)
During a video-assisted thoracic surgery procedure, a tiny camera (thoracoscope) and surgical instruments are inserted into your chest through several small incisions. The thoracoscope transmits images of the inside of your chest onto a video monitor. Compared with a traditional open operation (thoracotomy), video-assisted thoracic surgery may result in less pain and shorten recovery time.
Thoracotomy
Thoracotomy is the process of making an incision into the chest wall (thorax). It allows examination of the condition of the lungs; removal of a lung or part of a lung; removal of a rib; and examination, treatment, or removal of any organs in the chest cavity. Thoracotomy also provides access to the heart, esophagus, diaphragm and the portion of the aorta that passes through the chest cavity.