Aortic Surgery

The aorta is the largest artery in your cardiovascular system that carries blood from your heart to the rest of your body. In your heart, there is an aortic valve that is located between the aorta artery and the left ventricle chamber. The aortic valve is a semilunar valve with three cusps that regulate blood flow in the heart so that blood does not regurgitate back into its previous chamber.

Types of Aortic Surgeries

Aortic Valve Repair

A repair may be necessary for your aortic valve if you experience one of the following conditions:

• Valve stenosis: when the valve stiffens or merges together, resulting in a narrow entryway that prevents sufficient blood flow
• Valve regurgitation: sometimes called a leaky valve, regurgitation is when blood flows backward into its previous chamber due to a defect in the aortic valve’s cusps

Aortic Valve Replacement

If your aortic valve is too damaged for repair, your valve may be entirely replaced with a mechanical or a biological valve. Mechanical valves are composed of durable carbon and polyester materials, which can last the rest of a patient’s life. Biological valves are also called tissue valves, and they are made from human, pig, or cow tissue. A valve replacement can be done as open-heart surgery or as a minimally invasive procedure using catheters (transcatheter aortic valve replacement, TAVR).

Aortic Aneurysm Repair Surgery

Although artery walls are typically strong, certain conditions can make the wall of your artery weak. The force of your blood constantly pushing against weakened walls can cause a section of your aorta to swell, which results in a bulge called an aneurysm.

Smaller aneurysms may be treated with medications, but larger ones usually need surgery. The purpose of an aneurysm repair surgery is to remove the dilated tissue or bulging section before it ruptures and to return the aortic artery to its normal size and function. What kind of surgery and when you receive surgery will depend on numerous factors, including:

• Presence of symptoms
• Size of the aneurysm
• Rate of aneurysm growth
• Patient’s overall health
• Other associated heart conditions
• Presence of connective tissue disorder
• Risk for development of aortic dissection

Traditionally, surgery is performed through an open-heart procedure, but there are minimally invasive options like endovascular repair that a patient may qualify for, depending on their condition.

Aortic Dissection

An aortic dissection is the most common cause for an emergency cardiac surgery, as it is a serious condition in which a tear in the inner layer of the aortic artery occurs, either in the upper aorta (ascending or type A) or lower aorta (descending or type B). Symptoms that may indicate you are experiencing an aortic dissection include:

• Sudden severe chest or upper back pain
• A tearing or ripping sensation that spreads to the neck or down the back
• Loss of consciousness or new evidence of stroke
• Shortness of breath
• Weak pulse in one side of the body

If you experience any of these symptoms, it is important to seek emergency medical care immediately. You could receive surgery right away so that your surgeon may remove as much of the dissected aorta as possible and repair your condition. During surgery, a synthetic graft is often used to reconstruct the aorta. After surgery, you may likely require medication to manage your blood pressure and prospective follow-up to monitor your condition.