Medical scenes from the classic movie Gone with the Wind conjure up images of wounded soldiers receiving surgery without cleanliness, pain killers, or much hope. Fortunately, surgery has improved drastically over the years, and heart surgery is no exception. Today there are three basic types of medical procedures to treat heart problems. These include non-invasive procedures, invasive surgical procedures, and minimally invasive heart surgery.
Non-invasive procedures are those where everything is done on the surface or through a natural opening or cavity of the body. The procedures are used to help diagnose and treat external problems. They include diagnostic procedures like x-rays, MRIs, and EKGs. Treatments include defibrillation of the heart and mechanical breathing like the heart and iron lungs used during surgery.
Invasive procedures are defined as those that open the body so the surgeon can enter inside to perform the surgery. Open heart surgery is a good example of an invasive procedure. A large incision is made over the sternum. The breastbone is split in half and opened to provide access to the heart. Surgical complications, ease of recovery, pain, expense, etc. are all large with invasive procedures.
Minimally invasive procedures are still invasive but on a much reduced scale. The incisions are smaller and special equipment is used by the surgeon to perform the procedure. Typical equipment include scopes that project an image onto the screen so the surgeon does not have to see the organ directly and special elongated instruments designed to allow the physician to perform the surgery at a greater distance from the organ. Recovery, complications, expenses, etc. are all reduced with minimally invasive surgery.
Minimally invasive surgery is very common for such things a laparoscopy and endoscopy. Recently, though, technological advances have made minimally invasive heart surgery a reality. Rather than opening the chest cavity, a small incision is made between the ribs through which the surgeon can work.