Your heart is made up of 4 valves or chambers. These valves ensure that your oxygenated and deoxygenated blood do not get mixed up. But these valves can narrow down and cause serious heart problems. Dr. Siva Kumar Reddy is a highly experienced cardiac surgeon who performs a valvotomy surgery to correct a narrowed valve.
What Is A Valvotomy?
A valve of your heart has a 3-fold membrane or valve flaps that opens and closes as the blood flows. The movement of this membrane gets restricted when plaque forms on it. This condition is called valve stenosis. A medical procedure that removes or breaks this plaque to restore normal functioning of the membrane, is called valvotomy. It is also known as commissurotomy or valvotomy or valvuloplasty .
When Is A Valvotomy Needed?
When you have a heart valve stenosis, you will have many displeasing symptoms like chest pain, breathlessness, rapid heartbeats, heart murmur, weakness or even fainting. If the symptoms are severe, your doctor may need to decalcify the valve flaps to restore the normal functioning of the heart.
This can be done in a traditional open-heart surgery. But now, there is a minimally invasive procedure, called the balloon valvotomy, which reduces the hassles of a surgery and recovery for the patient.
How Is A Valvotomy Performed?
If you seem fit for a balloon valvotomy, after a period of 12 hours of fasting, you will be taken in for the surgery. You will be given some sedation and an anaesthetic agent at the site of incision, usually near the groin (much like an angiogram).
A catheter carrying a micro balloon is guided to the valve flap through a blood vessel. When it enters the valve, the balloon is inflated and as it expands, the plaque in the flaps breaks restoring the mobility of the flaps. The balloon can be inflated and deflated several times for the same purpose.
After decalcification, the catheter is removed from the body. You have to stay at the hospital overnight. If you recover as expected, you can go back home the next day.
However, if your conditions are too severe like the flap is loose or seems to have lost functional capability, then an open heart surgery may be conducted. In that surgery, the plaque is removed manually by the surgeon, any loose flap is stitched together, or an artificial flap is placed. This kind of surgery is riskier and takes more time to recover.
Valvotomy By Dr. Siva Kumar Reddy
Dr. Siva works with the most updated technologies so that he can give you the best treatment. Valvotomy is a delicate procedure that requires high-quality imaging techniques, the latest medical equipment, and the most skilled surgical team. Dr. Siva has performed valvotomy over hundreds of patients with a very high success rate.