Cardiotomy

Cardiotomy is a surgical procedure that involves cutting the heart muscle to treat various heart diseases. This is an operation that is performed under artificial circulation.

Cardiotomy can be performed for both diagnostic and treatment purposes. For example, in acute myocardial infarction (necrosis of the heart muscle) or acute heart failure (lack of cardiac output), cardiotomy can help restore normal heart rhythm and improve blood circulation.

One of the most common methods of performing cardiotomy is thoracotomy, a surgical incision into the chest to access the heart. During the operation, the surgeon makes an incision in the sternum, which allows access to the heart and its chambers. After this, the surgeon can perform necessary manipulations on the heart, such as removing blood clots, repairing damaged areas of the heart muscle, or installing a pacemaker.

Although cardiotomy is a fairly complex procedure, it has a high success rate and can help save the patient's life. However, like any other surgical operation, cardiotomy has its own risks and complications, so before performing it, it is necessary to carefully assess the patient’s condition and conduct the necessary examination.

Cardiotomy surgery is surgery on the heart. It is designed to open the heart chamber (atrioventricular or atrioventricular orifice). Most often, the operation is performed on men, but if necessary, it can also be performed on women. From a surgical point of view, it is preferable to perform a cardinal operation on the right atrium. This is due to the fact that the left atrium is located next to the main blood vessel of the human body (the pulmonary artery), which means that there is a greater risk of losing too much blood here than with surgery on the left atrium. But with cardiotomy resection of the left atrium, more opportunities are available to control bleeding. In addition, in case of complex septal defects, when they are located directly above the pulmonary arterial bed, it is still more optimal to perform surgery on the left atrium. However, if there is an artificial tricuspid valve, which is a consequence of a previously performed operation to change the valve on the prosthesis, then in this situation only the right atrium can be operated on, since thrombosis formed in the right atrial trunk below the level of the prosthesis contributes to the rapid development of severe tricuspid valve insufficiency. In the case of right ventricular heart failure, this operation can be performed only when the patient's condition is not severely affected by pulmonary hypertension due to severe rheumatic disease. The operation will be performed under general anesthesia.