Cardiac Rehabilitation

           Cardiac rehabilitation (rehab) is a medically supervised program that helps improve the health and well-being of people who have heart problems.

Rehab programs include exercise training, education on heart- healthy living, and counseling to reduce stress and help you return to an active life.

Cardiac rehab helps people who have heart problems do the following:

• Recover after a heart attack or heart surgery

• Prevent future hospital stays, heart problems, and death related to heart problems

• Address risk factors that lead to coronary heart disease (also called coronary artery disease) and other heart problems

• Adopt healthy lifestyle changes

• Improve their health and quality of life

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Heart Valve Surgery

“Heart valve surgery,” © 2009 A.D.A.M., Inc.

Reprinted with permission.

Heart valve surgery is used to repair or replace diseased heart valves.

Description

There are four valves in your heart:

1. Aortic valve

2. Mitral valve

3. Tricuspid valve

4. Pulmonary valve

The valves control the direction of blood flow through your heart. The opening and closing of the heart valves produce the sound of the heartbeat. Heart valve surgery is open-heart surgery that is done while you are under general anesthesia. A cut is made through the breast bone (sternum). Your blood is routed away from your heart to a heart-lung bypass machine. This machine keeps the blood circulating while your heart is being operated on.

Valves may be repaired or replaced. Replacement heart valves are either natural (biologic) or artificial (mechanical):

• Natural valves are from human donors (cadavers).

• Modified natural valves come from animal donors. (Porcine valves are from pigs, bovine are from cows.)

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Coronary Angioplasty

Coronary angioplasty is a medical procedure in which a balloon is used to open a blockage in a coronary (heart) artery narrowed by atherosclerosis. This procedure improves blood flow to the heart. Atherosclerosis is a condition in which a material called plaque builds up on the inner walls of the arteries. This can happen in any artery, including the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries carry
          oxygen-rich blood to your heart. When atherosclerosis affects the coronary arteries, the condition is called coronary artery disease (CAD).

Angioplasty is a common medical procedure. It may be used to do the following:

• Improve symptoms of CAD, such as angina and shortness of breath

• Reduce damage to the heart muscle from a heart attack

• Reduce the risk of death in some patients

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Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

         Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a type of surgery called revascularization, used to improve blood flow to the heart in people with severe coronary artery disease (CAD).

CAD occurs when the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle (the coronary arteries) become blocked due to the buildup of a material called plaque on the inside of the blood vessels. If the blockage is severe, chest pain (also called angina), shortness of breath, and, in some cases, heart attack can occur.

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