Cardiac Surgery

Treatments

• AVR: The aortic valve is one of four valves controlling blood flow through your heart and keeps blood flowing in the right direction. When it does not work properly, aortic valve repair and aortic valve replacement are procedures designed to restore normal blood flow while helping to preserve the function of your heart muscle.
• Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts (CABG) AtlantiCare’s success in performing CABG, also known as heart bypass surgery, is the highest among hospitals in southern New Jersey, according to the most recent New Jersey Health Care Quality Assessment report for cardiac surgery. The procedure improves blood flow to the heart by taking a healthy blood vessel from the back of the chest wall and a vein from the leg, which are harvested using a minimally invasive technique, and sewing them onto the heart to create a new pathway for the blood to reach the heart without going through the blockages.
• Maze: To treat atrial fibrillation, your doctor might perform a maze procedure. During this surgery, your surgeon will create a pattern of scar tissue – a maze – in the upper chambers of the heart. This scar tissue does not carry electricity, so the maze disrupts the electrical impulses that cause atrial fibrillation.
• Left atrial closure: The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a small sac in the muscle wall of the top left chamber of your heart. For patients with atrial fibrillation, blood may collect there and form potentially dangerous blood clots. Left atrial appendage closure may involve prescription of blood-thinning medications or the implantation of a WATCHMAN device.
• Hybrid ablation (minimally invasive): To treat persistent atrial fibrillation (AFib), you may be a candidate for hybrid ablation if medications and other treatments are ineffective. This minimally invasive procedure combines catheter ablation with thoracoscopic surgery to treat tissue both inside and outside the heart to block the abnormal electrical signals causing AFib.
• Mitral valve repair/replacement: The mitral valve is located between your heart’s left atrium and left ventricle. If it becomes hardened (which keeps blood from moving forward through the valve) or is too loose (causing blood to flow backward), mitral valve surgery is performed to repair or replace the valve and keep your heart working properly.
• Surgical Ablation Performed most often to treat heart rhythm disorders like atrial fibrillation (A-fib), surgical ablation can be minimally invasive or an open-heart procedure. During the surgery, normal electrical pathways are re-established to correct the rhythm disturbance. At the Heart and Lung Institute, our skilled surgeons can combine surgical ablation with another procedure, such as heart bypass surgery, to correct both conditions at the same time.