From the time we start our life in mother’s womb till we die, heart continuously pumps blood to the body to keep us alive. In an adult it pumps nearly 5 liters of blood every minute. It has four chambers-two on right side and 2 on left side. Blood keep flowing through these chambers.
What is the function of Heart Valves?
To maintain efficiency of the heart, there are 4 valves in the heart that make sure that blood is going through the heart in only one direction without turbulence. These valves –especially those on left side (Mitral and Aortic valves) can get affected due to various problems.
Heart Valve Problems & Causes:
- Commonest reason is –damage to them after rheumatic fever.
- Other reasons include-birth defects, degeneration with calcium deposition from old age, infections etc.
- These can result in narrowing of the valves resulting in obstruction or leakage of the blood back through the valves resulting in loss of the efficiency of the heart.
When these problems become severe, these may need surgery.
Heart Valve Surgery Procedure:
- Normally heart valve surgery is done through a 20-25 cm cut in the front of the chest. Then breast bone is split.
- After this these patients take about 3 months for the healing of the breast bone and reduction in pain.
- Sometimes this scar can become big resulting in keloids, which are very difficult to treat.
- This can be a big problem especially for young female patients in developing countries.
Key Hole Valve Surgery Recovery and Follow Up:
- For most patients, nowadays we are able to do these valve surgeries through a 5-6cm cut (Minimal Access Valve surgery, also called key hole valve surgery) on the right side of the chest below or above the breast. We do not have to cut any bones. With this, patients recover in 3-4 weeks time with less pain and a small scar.
- After operation, they have less bleeding and need less blood transfusions. Patient satisfaction rate is very high in view of a small scar hidden underneath the breast.
- This technique was initially popularized in India by Dr. Gokhale . He conducted many live workshops in Hyderabad and Secunderabad and helped many heart surgeons to get trained in this patient friendly technique.
