Angioplasty, also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atherosclerosis.
Coronary artery bypass surgery, also known as coronary artery bypass graft, is a surgical procedure to treat coronary artery disease (CAD), the buildup of plaques in the arteries of the heart. It can relieve chest pain caused by CAD, slow the progression of CAD, and increase life expectancy. It aims to bypass narrowings in heart arteries by using arteries or veins harvested from other parts of the body, thus restoring adequate blood supply to the previously ischemic heart.
Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) or heart-lung machine also called the pump or CPB pump is a machine that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during open-heart surgery by maintaining the circulation of blood and oxygen throughout the body. As such it is an extracorporeal device.
Vascular surgery is a surgical subspecialty in which vascular diseases involving the arteries, veins, or lymphatic vessels, are managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures and surgical reconstruction. The specialty evolved from general and cardiovascular surgery where it refined the management of just the vessels, no longer treating the heart or other organs. Modern vascular surgery includes open surgery techniques, endovascular techniques and medical management of vascular diseases - unlike the parent specialities. The vascular surgeon is trained in the diagnosis and management of diseases affecting all parts of the vascular system excluding the coronaries and intracranial vasculature. Vascular surgeons also are called to assist other physicians to carry out surgery near vessels, or to salvage vascular injuries that include hemorrhage control, dissection, occlusion or simply for safe exposure of vascular structures.
Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the thoracic cavity — generally treatment of conditions of the heart, lungs, and other pleural or mediastinal structures.
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease ; to correct congenital heart disease; or to treat valvular heart disease from various causes, including endocarditis, rheumatic heart disease, and atherosclerosis. It also includes heart transplantation.
Aortic valve replacement is a cardiac surgery procedure whereby a failing aortic valve is replaced with an artificial heart valve. The aortic valve may need to be replaced because of aortic regurgitation, or if the valve is narrowed by stenosis.
Henry Joseph Macaulay Barnett, known by his colleagues and friends as "Barney", was a Canadian physician and neurologist. He was also a leading clinical stroke researcher as a result of being the principal investigator in several major clinical trials. As a clinical scientist, he did pioneering research in stroke prevention, beginning with the use of aspirin.
Carotid endarterectomy is a surgical procedure used to reduce the risk of stroke from carotid artery stenosis. In endarterectomy, the surgeon opens the artery and removes the plaque. The plaque forms and thickens the inner layer of the artery, or intima, hence the name of the procedure which simply means removal of part of the internal layers of the artery.
Carotid artery stenosis is a narrowing or constriction of any part of the carotid arteries, usually caused by atherosclerosis.
A watershed stroke is defined as a brain ischemia that is localized to the vulnerable border zones between the tissues supplied by the anterior, posterior and middle cerebral arteries. The actual blood stream blockage/restriction site can be located far away from the infarcts. Watershed locations are those border-zone regions in the brain supplied by the major cerebral arteries where blood supply is decreased. Watershed strokes are a concern because they comprise approximately 10% of all ischemic stroke cases. The watershed zones themselves are particularly susceptible to infarction from global ischemia as the distal nature of the vasculature predisposes these areas to be most sensitive to profound hypoperfusion.
In thoracic surgery, a pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE), also referred to as pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA), is an operation that removes organized clotted blood (thrombus) from the pulmonary arteries, which supply blood to the lungs.
A Hollenhorst plaque is a cholesterol embolus that is seen in a blood vessel of the retina. It is usually found when a physician performs ophthalmoscopy, during which a plaque will appear as a small, bright crystal that is refractile and yellow. This is a medical exam finding, and is not a medical condition, though it may be related to cardiovascular conditions such as atherosclerosis of the internal carotid artery. It was first described by American ophthalmologist Robert Hollenhorst in 1961.
Subclavian steal syndrome (SSS), also called subclavian steal steno-occlusive disease, is a medical condition characterized by retrograde (reversed) blood flow in the vertebral artery or the internal thoracic artery. This reversal occurs due to proximal stenosis (narrowing) or occlusion of the subclavian artery.
Carotid artery stenting is an endovascular procedure where a stent is deployed within the lumen of the carotid artery to treat narrowing of the carotid artery and decrease the risk of stroke. It is used to treat narrowing of the carotid artery in high-risk patients, when carotid endarterectomy is considered too risky.
A hybrid cardiac surgical procedure in a narrow sense is defined as a procedure that combines a conventional, more invasive surgical part with an interventional part, using some sort of catheter-based procedure guided by fluoroscopy imaging in a hybrid operating room (OR) without interruption. The hybrid technique has a reduced risk of surgical complications and has shown decreased recovery time. It can be used to treat numerous heart diseases and conditions and with the increasing complexity of each case, the hybrid surgical technique is becoming more common.
Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a long-term disease caused by a blockage in the blood vessels that deliver blood from the heart to the lungs. These blockages cause increased resistance to flow in the pulmonary arterial tree which in turn leads to rise in pressure in these arteries. The blockages either result from organised blood clots that usually originate from the deep veins of the lower limbs of the body (thromboembolism) and lodge in the pulmonary arterial tree after passing through the right side of the heart. The blockages may also result from scar tissue that forms at the site where the clot has damaged the endothelial lining of the pulmonary arteries, causing permanent fibrous obstruction. Most patients have a combination of microvascular and macrovascular obstruction. Some patients may present with normal or near-normal pulmonary pressures at rest despite symptomatic disease. These patients are labelled as having chronic thromboembolic disease (CTED).
Stuart William Jamieson is a British cardiothoracic surgeon, specialising in pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE), a surgical procedure performed to remove organized clotted blood (thrombus) from pulmonary arteries in people with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH).
The Yasui procedure is a pediatric heart operation used to bypass the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) that combines the aortic repair of the Norwood procedure and a shunt similar to that used in the Rastelli procedure in a single operation. It is used to repair defects that result in the physiology of hypoplastic left heart syndrome even though both ventricles are functioning normally. These defects are common in DiGeorge syndrome and include interrupted aortic arch and LVOT obstruction (IAA/LVOTO); aortic atresia-severe stenosis with ventricular septal defect (AA/VSD); and aortic atresia with interrupted aortic arch and aortopulmonary window. This procedure allows the surgeon to keep the left ventricle connected to the systemic circulation while using the pulmonary valve as its outflow valve, by connecting them through the ventricular septal defect. The Yasui procedure includes a modified Damus–Kaye–Stansel procedure to connect the aortic and pulmonary roots, allowing the coronary arteries to remain perfused. It was first described in 1987.
Arterial occlusion is a condition involving partial or complete blockage of blood flow through an artery. Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood to body tissues. An occlusion of arteries disrupts oxygen and blood supply to tissues, leading to ischemia. Depending on the extent of ischemia, symptoms of arterial occlusion range from simple soreness and pain that can be relieved with rest, to a lack of sensation or paralysis that could require amputation.
