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New heart-valve repair surgery cuts pain, stay

Submitted photo Heart-surgery patients can expect shorter hospital stays with technique. Sacred Heart Hospital is now offering patients who need heart-valve repair with an advanced surgical technique that allows for a small incision and a quicker, less painful recovery.

In the standard surgery to fix a leaking mitral valve in the heart, a cardiac surgeon starts the operation by cutting a long incision down the center of the patient's breastbone. Dr. William Bailey, a heart surgeon with Cardiothoracic Surgical Associates, said the less invasive technique he performs at Sacred Heart requires only a two-inch incision between the ribs. By not having to cut through bone and muscle, the procedure lowers the risk of infection, reduces pain and blood loss, and leaves only a small scar instead of a large one down the middle of the chest.

"It's a different approach that also makes it easier for the surgeon to see and evaluate the leaking heart valve," said Bailey. "Patients benefit from a shorter stay in the hospital and a faster recovery compared to the standard open-heart surgery."

The small incision surgery is being used at Sacred Heart to treat a common condition called mitral valve prolapse in which a heart valve does not function properly.

For more information about heart-valve surgery or a cardiac surgeon at Sacred Heart, call (850) 416-7000.