Open Heart Surgery: a Matter of Life and Death

The miraculous duty of the heart, which throughout life pumps the blood with no interruption and sends unpurified blood to organs like lungs and kidneys where it is refined, is a clear source of contemplation and wonder for those who have any kind of awareness. However, some people encounter health problems connected with the heart and one of the remedies for some types of malfunction is open heart surgery.

Open heart surgery is performed after putting the patient to sleep under a general anesthetic. The chest is then opened by the surgeon, and the heart is temporarily bypassed or deactivated for the duration of surgery (although in some new techniques like beating heart surgery or minimal invasion heart surgery, the operation is possible without deactivation of the heart). During this period the functions of the heart are performed by an artificial lung mechanism called the heart-lung machine (cardiopulmonary bypass machine). Performing surgery on a working heart cases where there is no facility for beating heart surgery would be like trying to repair the engine of a car while it is in motion. This is why it is necessary to temporarily prevent the functions of the heart during the operation, which requires great care and accuracy.