General Information

Patients requiring heart surgery need to be well prepared in order to achieve the best possible postoperative result and to minimize the risk posed by surgery. If the date of the operation can be planned jointly by the patient and the Heart Center, this is referred to as an elective operation.

At the time of admission, the patient should be free from the common cold and other infections. It is also very important that the patient’s teeth are free from infection, since infected teeth can result in life- threatening generalized infection (sepsis) after the operation.

If bacteria or other micro-organisms reach the blood stream of the patient after a heart valve operation, the implanted valve or the endothelium lining the heart can easily become infected necessitating another operation to excise the infected tissues and replace the infected valve.

Emergency operations are the exception as they need to be performed immediately because of the life-threatening situation.

In order to facilitate postoperative recovery, you are strongly advised to stop smoking at least 6 weeks before the operation. Interestingly enough, it has been found that a sudden withdrawal of nicotine immediately before heart surgery is detrimental to its outcome.

The lungs of smokers are loaded with mucus. Their respiration is usually shallow and expectoration difficult. For this reason, smokers usually need mechanical ventilation for longer than non-smokers.

In the past, overweight patients were denied heart surgery until they lost weight. Unfortunately, this concept still exists at some heart centers. Our experience shows that overweight patients have no higher operative risk than patients of normal weight. As a result of heart disease, weight reduction without sport (merely by being on a low calorie diet) is practically impossible. In addition, patients whose metabolism has been changed by weight reduction suffer more complications after an operation.

If you suffer from lung disease, your chest specialist needs to prepare you for the operation.

Despite the thorough examination to which donated blood is subjected, it still carries very minimal risk of causing infections e.g. HIV and hepatitis. Using the modern intraoperative blood conservation methods, heart operation are nowadays carried out without the need for foreign blood. However, in order to be absolutely sure that blood transfusion will not lead to infection, self donation can be an appropriate choice.

Nowadays, the possibility of self donation is considered as standard. Whether or not self donation is possible depends on the severity of the case of heart disease. You can discuss this possibility with your family doctor or the hospital team.

It is nowadays possible as a rule to avoid blood transfusions if the operation is uncomplicated and the preoperative hemoglobin level is normal.

You should continue taking your regular medication before the operation as usual. Coagulation inhibitors are the only exception. Anti-platelet medications e.g. Aspirin, Colfarit, Godamed, Asasantin, Persantin, Tyklid, Monobeltin must be stopped 8 days before the operation. Marcumar must be stopped 4 days before the operation.

Before the operation, you will receive a letter from the hospital informing you of the admission date and asking you to stop the above-mentioned medication. When you stop taking Marcumar, you need to bridge this phase by taking heparin. You can discuss this in details with your family doctor.

In order to undergo the operation in a rested and relaxed state, we advise you to take a few days vacation from your work before the operation. This facilitates your recovery after the operation.

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