Believe it or not, cholesterol isn't bad. Some of it is necessary for your body to function. When cholesterol levels are too high (or too low in the case of good cholesterol) problems occur. These aren't small problems either--they're bodily...
Open heart surgery is any kind of operation in which the heart is exposed through an incision in the chest. The most common open heart surgery in the United States is coronary artery bypass grafting, or CABG. One of the most serious complications...
According to the Texas Heart Institute, thousands of heart surgeries are performed in the United States daily. Modern heart surgery techniques now include the ability to operate on a heart without stopping it, and new, robotic-assisted techniques...
Heparin is an anticoagulant available with a prescription only. It is used for the prevention and treatment of blood clot disorders. Heparin does not dissolve blood clots, but prevents them becoming larger and causing complications such as heart...
Heparin is an injectable anticoagulant medication commonly given to prevent the formation of blood clots. Patients also receive heparin to decrease the clotting ability of blood during open-heart surgery, bypass surgery, blood transfusions and...
According to the American Heart Association, coronary artery bypass graft surgery is a useful tool in treating patients who have significant narrowing and blockages in the coronary arteries. During the operation, doctors use blood vessels from the...
Heparin is an injectable medicine that is used to prevent harmful blood clots. It has been used by millions of patients for over 50 years, making it one of the oldest drugs still in widespread use. Despite its long clinical history, however,...
In 1953, Dr. John Gibson performed the first successful open heart surgery with the assistance of a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Since then, advances in heart bypass surgery continue daily. Some of the advances are in the form of tools and...
Coronary bypass, open-heart surgery, aneurysm repair and heart transplant are among the cardiac procedures commonly performed in the United States. The goal of any heart surgery is to allow the heart to function properly again. If you have...
An anticoagulant drug is one that helps prevent clotting or coagulation of the blood. Anticoagulants are often known as blood thinners, although they do not actually make the blood thinner but decrease the blood's ability to clot. Anticoagulants...
As the Surgery Encyclopedia explains, the purpose of a heart and lung machine is to allow the body to survive while the heart is stopped. The heart needs to be stopped for some kinds of surgery, including coronary bypass surgery, open heart...
Cardiac bypass surgery is considered open heart surgery and is performed to increase blood flow to the heart, which ultimately decreases your risk of suffering a heart attack. According to the American Heart Association, the surgeon creates a new...
If you or someone you know has been admitted to the hospital with a heart condition, you might be met with a doctor placing you on a liquids-only diet. Liquid diets can be prescribed for a number of reasons, but when it relates to heart...
Heart bypass surgery or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is commonly known as open-heart surgery. Typically, people with coronary artery disease in which vessels of the heart are blocked with hard build-up, called plaque, require heart bypass...
The treatments for ischemic heart disease include medications, lifestyle changes, balloon angioplasty and coronary artery bypass surgery. The aim of these four types of treatment is to improve the flow of blood through the coronary arteries, which...
Heart disease is a relatively common health condition that affected more than 80 million Americans in 2006, according to the American Heart Association. One of the risk factors is hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis. Plaque builds up on...
According the American Heart Association, heart bypass surgery or coronary bypass surgery treats blocked heart arteries. In this procedure doctors create a new passage for blood flow to a patient's heart. Veins of arteries from other parts of the...
MayoClinic.com says coronary artery bypass grafting is a surgical procedure that's performed for people with coronary artery disease. In this surgery, a piece of vein is taken from the leg or artery from the chest or wrist. This is attached to the...
According the American Heart Association, there are nearly 1.5 million heart attacks each year leading to more than 400,000 deaths. A heart attack, or myocardial infarction, occurs when one of the coronary arteries that feed the heart muscle...
Congestive heart failure is an acute condition wherein the heart cannot supply the organs of the body with sufficient amounts of blood. According to the American Heart Association, it can be brought on by narrowed arteries, scar tissue that...
CABG stands for coronary artery bypass grafting, an open-heart surgery for advanced stages of coronary artery blockage. Surgery involves removing a leg vein and creating a bridge or bypass between your aorta and blocked arteries in order to...
Fatigue is a feeling of exhaustion and weariness that does not go away with rest. Fatigue is not drowsiness that responds to a good night's sleep. Nausea is the feeling of sickness or discomfort in the stomach that produces the urge to vomit. Many...
Open heart surgery, also known as coronary artery bypass graft or CABG, saves the lives of millions of Americans annually. Not without risk, this life-saving surgery can lead to post-surgical complications such as congestive heart failure, or CHF....
There are multiple causes of shortness of breath and chest tightness. Some are minor and controllable, whereas others are life threatening. Problems with the heart or lungs are most prominent on the list. Most causes of these symptoms are...
Plaque builds up on the arteries going to the heart and causes them to narrow. A reduction in blood flow to the heart occurs, and if the blood supply is severely restricted, a heart attack occurs. Eating foods high in saturated fats raises...
Many people take fish oil, which contains omega-3 fatty acids, to lower triglycerides, improve dry eyes, help with joint pain or decrease the risk of heart disease. However, don't expect to see immediate results after taking omega-3 fatty acids....
The pericardium is a connective tissue layer, like a sac, that surrounds the heart. It contains a fluid that lubricates the outside of the heart. The pericardium is opened during cardiac bypass surgery in order to access the heart for the...
Heart bypass surgery creates a new route for blood to flow to the heart. Surgeons remove part of a vein or artery from the patient's body and use it to create a bypass around a blocked or diseased artery. Heart bypass surgery involves opening the...
Coronary artery disease, or coronary heart disease, is the end result of the heart muscle losing nutrients due to blockage in blood vessels of the heart. Learn more about coronary heart disease, including warning signs and treatments in this video.
