What can I do or cannot do after surgery?
Avoid weight lifting and driving for three months.
How will my pain be managed?
You will be given pain killer intravenously (IV) in the postoperative period, which reduces your pain to a negligible level.
How long will my surgery take?
Surgical time varies depending upon the type of surgery and diseased condition of your heart. Usually, the average heart surgery lasts for 4-6 hours.
What should I do on the day of my surgery?
Get up in the morning with a positive mind. You are not allowed to take anything by mouth.
What will happen during the surgery?
You will be under the effect of Anesthesia, totally in an unconscious state, you won’t feel pain, and you won’t even know that the surgery has been done.
What is a heart attack?
In some patients, the blood supply to a part of the heart muscle stops suddenly. This happens most often due to the formation of a clot inside one of the three coronary arteries supplying blood to the heart muscle. When this happens, the heart muscle that receives blood from the respective coronary artery gets damaged. This is termed as a heart attack.
It is advised to quickly visit the Best Cardiology Hospital in Bangalore nearby to get treated by a cardiologist.
Are heart attacks hereditary or can they be age-dependent?
Family history plays an important role in the causation of heart attacks. The risk of a heart attack in a person more than doubles if a first-degree relative (parents, siblings, or children) has had a heart attack in the past.
While there are exceptions, heart attacks are generally seen in older adults. The typical age for a man to have a heart attack is 55 years and above and for a woman it is 65 years and above.
When heart attacks are seen in men younger than 55 years and women younger than 65 years it is termed as Premature Heart Attack or Premature Coronary artery disease.
In India, during the last two decades, more and more adults who are younger have been noted to have heart attacks. Studies have shown that between 15-22% of all heart attacks are seen in adults younger than 40 years of age.
Are there different types of heart attacks? If so, what are they?
Based on the variation in the ECG during a heart attack, doctors recognize two types of heart attacks. ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Non-ST-elevation Myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). STEMI and NSTEMI differ not only in the variation in the ECG but also in their severity. In general, STEMI is more likely to be immediately fatal or disabling than NSTEMI. Consequently, STEMI requires more urgent treatment than NSTEMI in most instances. However, this is just a thumb rule: Some NSTEMIs can be equally ominous and may require emergency treatment just like STEMI.
Do all types of heart attacks have the same symptoms?
Of course not. Symptoms of heart attack can vary from case to case. The commonest symptom of a heart attack is chest pain. This is seen in about 70% of all heart attack patients. The remainder can present with breathlessness, arm or back pain, cold sweats, loss of consciousness, or palpitations. Some patients may have no symptoms at all and are said to have a Silent Heart attack.
If you experience any of these symptoms, then immediately consult the Best Cardiologist in Bangalore.
What are the specific tests required to diagnose heart disease?
Patients suspected to have a heart attack require to undergo ECG or electrocardiogram immediately. If the initial ECG is not diagnostic but the symptoms and signs are highly suggestive of a heart attack, repeating the ECG after 30-60 minutes and performing a blood test to detect high levels of cardiac enzymes such as Cardiac Troponins or CK-MB are additionally useful. Old heart attacks are often diagnosed based on ECG or Echocardiography.
