Heart valve replacement surgeries are common procedures done to improve the health of people with heart valve diseases. Heart valves open so blood can flow through the chambers of the heart and flow back out of the heart into large arteries. Results of diagnostic testing, the structure of the heart, age and lifestyle habits help determine what type of heart valve surgery is most appropriate for a patient.
Valve Repair
Valve repair or valvuloplasty is a procedure in which a large balloon is used in order to open a heart valve that has become narrowed or prolapsed. A catheter is guided through the aorta to the valve and once it is in place within the leaflets the balloon is inflated until the leaflets are loosened. The balloon is then deflated and removed from the body.
Valve Replacement
Aortic valve replacement involves the removal of the defective valve and replacing it with an artificial valve by sewing it to the annulus of the natural valve. Valve replacements are most often done by making an incision through the sternum. Valves can either be mechanical or biological. Mechanical valves are made of mechanical parts which are tolerated well in the body. With mechanical valves recipients must remain on blood thinning drugs for the remainder of their lives. Tissue valves are typically made from animal tissues either animal heart valve tissue or animal pericardial tissue. An alternative to an animal tissue valve is a homograft which is a human aortic valve which are donated and harvested for usage after a person dies.
Ring Annuloplasty
In a ring annuloplasty procedure the surgeon repairs the valve's annulus or ring-like tissue that supports the valve leaflets. Purse-sting sutures are sewn around the ring to help decrease the opening which helps the leaflets meet again when the valve closes. Occasionally with repair of the annulus it may be necessary to implant an annuloplasty ring where the leaflets meet the fibrous annulus. This will help decrease an abnormally large valve opening in order to have the leaflets come together sufficiently.
