Patients who need cardiac surgery have become increasingly more complex and an increasing proportion of them require reoperative cardiac surgery. Surgical techniques have significantly improved, with recent studies showing that patients can undergo a second heart surgery without the concern of having a significant increased morbidity or mortality risk.

Some of the many improvements include standardization of preoperative studies, checklists and “the huddle,” standardized techniques for opening a “redo” chest incision, better instruments for dissection of the scar tissue around the heart, along with advances in inotropic agents, blood conservation, and mechanical support.

With permission from the patient to post, this 68-year-old man underwent a redo-aortic valve replacement only 8 weeks ago. His previous operation was an aortic valve replacement, mitral valve repair, and tricuspid valve repair. His repaired valves were still fine but the biologic prosthetic aortic valve had prematurely deteriorated, requiring him to undergo a redo-heart surgery just 4 years later.

He describes in this video how his experience of now recovering from a second heart operation was as quick, or quicker, than his first operation. In fact, many patients tell us that their second operation wasn’t as bad, in part because they knew what to expect and also because of what they have experienced in terms of the advances in heart surgery and perioperative care. Thank you Andrew for sharing your experience!

Click here to read the first part of Anthony’s journey!