Our INTEGRIS Heart Hospital surgeons perform three types of heart surgery: coronary artery bypass, heart transplant and artificial assist device placement.
Most commonly referred to as simply bypass surgery, this surgery is often performed in people who have angina (chest pain) and coronary artery disease (where plaque has built up in the arteries). A bypass is created by grafting a piece of a vein above and below the blocked area of a coronary artery, enabling blood to flow around the obstruction. Veins are usually taken from the leg, but arteries from the chest or arm may also be used to create a bypass graft. Surgeons may perform a single bypass, double bypass, triple bypass or quadruple bypass depending on the number of blocked coronary arteries. After surgery at INTEGRIS Heart Hospital, patients go to an intensive coronary care unit before being moved to an intermediate unit. Before discharge, the patient will learn about medication regimens, diet, wound care and activity instructions. As part of an on-going care regimen, patients may be directed to participate in cardiac rehab programs through the YMCA Healthy Living Center - INTEGRIS.
Oklahoma's first heart transplant was performed at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in 1985. Today, heart transplants are done on a regular basis at INTEGRIS Nazih Zuhdi Transplantation Institute, Oklahoma's largest and only comprehensive transplant program. The center ranks among the top comprehensive programs in the nation for survival rates, according to data gathered by the United Network for Organ Sharing. A heart transplant is a procedure in which a diseased heart is removed and replaced with a donor heart. A heart transplant is considered when heart failure is so severe that it can no longer meet even the smallest pumping demands and all other therapies, including medications and mechanical devices to assist the heart, have failed. At this point, transplantation becomes the only option. In some cases, a patient awaiting heart transplant surgery benefit from insertion of the TandemHeart system. This short-term external blood pump acts as a bridge system, giving the patient some extra time prior to the surgery for the heart to rest and the patient’s condition to stabilize.
This procedure is for select patients whose hearts are so severely damaged that medications, procedures, and surgical repair cannot help. A donated heart is transplanted into the patient to replace the damaged heart.