Minimally Invasive Surgical Techniques

Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery

Advanced Cardiac Surgery techniques continue to shape and revolutionize our specialty with highly sophisticated and effective ways to treat heart disease. We are continuously evolving towards better outcomes and a minimally invasive heart surgery approach that is low impact and scarless. Our minimally invasive techniques have radically changed our patients’ heart surgery experience and postoperative recovery.

Patients who are treated with these improved minimally invasive surgical methods can now experience faster recovery times. The elderly and frail patients can often return to their homes and families in two-three days after heart surgery with very little pain and an almost invisible scar. This scar is often can be completely hidden in the skin fold under the breast.

Dr. Ciuffo knows how confusing and scary it can be if you or a loved one are confronted with the news that something needs to be done about a severe heart condition. How do you know if you are making the right decisions, and what questions should you ask your specialist to make sure you are treated with the best possible options? Dr. Ciuffo and his team have created this website to give cardiac patients and their families complete information about the minimally invasive treatment options available.

Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery Resources

About Our Site

This website has been conceived as a down-to-earth guide to help and educate anybody who needs a heart procedure and wants to know the best medical and surgical solutions available today in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

minimally invasive heart surgery recovery

(Photo Credit: Karen Schiely/Akron Beacon Journal)

Keep reading and you will become an informed consumer with the right questions to ask. Cardiac surgery and cardiology have evolved tremendously over the last twenty years and the combined expertise of these specialties offers the best results and options ever achieved in the history of medicine. Our minimally invasive technologies and surgical solutions have opened new doors and a chance to get better even in cases who were considered inoperable by traditional and conventional methods.

Heart Surgery Experience

Over the span of Dr. Ciuffo’s extensive professional career in cardiothoracic surgery, he has had the opportunity to compare the clinical results and patients’ comfort and recovery with traditional and conventional cardiothoracic surgery techniques versus bloodless and minimally invasive heart surgery techniques.

Our center experience has shown that these new techniques allow the best clinical results. The most obvious advantages to minimally invasive heart surgery are less pain, less bleeding, less wound infections, a quicker recovery and return to a productive life style, superior cosmetic results. Learn more about Dr. Ciuffo’s minimally invasive heart surgery experience and training.

Giovanni B. Ciuffo, MD, Chief, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery

Our conclusions have been corroborated by innumerable scientific articles in the surgical literature confirming these same clinical advantages. As we explore these topics, we will quote relevant bibliography for those of you who have an academic interest in this field or simply want to get more scientific information. We encourage you to send your comments or questions about this website or any scientific literature on  the advanced treatment of cardiovascular disease.

What We Do: Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery

Many heart patients and their families are intimidated and confused by the complexity of this field and find it increasingly difficult to make the right choice for themselves or their loved ones. Cardiovascular care has evolved very successfully towards new techniques and technologies.

minimally invasive heart surgery

These breakthroughs have created a new, “gentle touch” surgical experience that is now available to the vast majority of our patients by the hands of expert minimally invasive heart surgeons. Even the elderly and frail patient can enjoy the best results with a smooth and quick recovery after bypass surgery or a minimally invasive mitral valve repair or aortic valve replacement. Minimally Invasive ASD repairs and Atrial Myxoma Surgery is now routinely offered to most patients.

In most women the surgical scar can be completely hidden in the skin fold underneath the breast, with the best cosmetic results and an excellent repair of their heart problem. This type of surgery is also known as Scarless Heart Surgery. You definitely don’t need to be a movie star or a fashion model to request this type of cardiac surgery. All patients are routinely evaluated to see if they can be suitable candidates for the least invasive approach.

Why Choose Us?

For those of you who are interested in a specific heart problem, We have divided this vast subject under several headings that cover the most frequent cardiovascular pathologies. This website is designed to be user friendly and very easy to navigate. Links to relevant topics, surgical videos and pictures are available in each page. Over the years in Dr. Ciuffo’s professional practice, he has developed a simple and effective way to explain the mechanisms that cause heart disease as well as our high-tech, minimally invasive heart surgery and medical techniques to treat it.

bloodless and minimally invasive heart surgery patient, Madalyn Copcutt, with Dr. Ciuffo

Image Source: Canton Mercy Medical

You’ll find our explanations down-to-earth and filled with examples drawn from carpentry, plumbing, mechanical engineering, and more. You shouldn’t be surprised or offended by these examples. Our cardiovascular system could be simply described as a double pump (right and left side of the heart) connected to a network of pipes (veins and arteries) that allows oxygenated blood to reach and nourish every organ and cell in our body.

We will guide you step-by-step through what happens when a part of our heart system fails and what we do to diagnose the problem, then treat it with outstanding results!

You’ll be able to understand how your coronary arteries work and how a stent, an angioplasty, or minimally invasive bypass operation can relieve chest pain or save a life. You’ll find out about the pros and cons of prosthetic heart valves we can use to perform an aortic valve replacement or a mitral valve repair. We will bring you up to date on hybrid valve and coronary surgery and its role in less invasive ways to treat a variety of heart conditions.

Please, feel free to browse in any order you like. It is a work in progress. If you don’t find what you are looking for, please revisit later or contact us directly. When it comes to your health, it truly pays to be an informed consumer. There is a lot we can do to have longer and better lives.

We will gladly answer all your questions about heart disease and the most advanced surgical options to treat any heart condition. We understand and respect your concerns about minimally invasive heart surgery. It is your heart, your life, your choice.

Watch Dr.Ciuffo talk about Minimally Invasive and Bloodless Heart Surgery

This video contains earlier contact information. Please, refer to our Contact Us page for our current contact information.

 

Dr. Giovanni Ciuffo - Minimally Invasive Heart Surgeon
Giovanni B. Ciuffo, MD

 

Director, Minimally Invasive and Bloodless Heart Surgery Program


Dr. Ciuffo’s News and Articles

Find the latest on minimally invasive heart surgery from our blog!

The Recovery Process After Bloodless Heart Surgery

Bloodless heart surgery is performed to prevent blood loss and eliminate the need for blood transfusions and has been shown to provide an easier recovery process. It uses cutting-edge medical techniques that preserve the patient’s own blood. Also known as transfusion-free surgery, it can be a viable alternative for those who need traditional heart surgery but prefer a bloodless approach for personal or religious reasons. At Minimally Invasive and Bloodless Heart Surgery with Dr. Ciuffo, we’re here to take a closer look at what bloodless heart surgery is and what you can expect from the recovery process.  How Bloodless Heart Surgery Works Transfusion-free surgery involves advanced techniques that prevent blood loss. In most cases, a surgeon will draw several units of blood, store it in a vessel, and infuse it back into the patient at the end of the procedure. The blood that they draw at the beginning usually gets replaced with a special salt solution, which dilutes the patient’s blood. This ensures that any blood that is lost has fewer red blood cells.  A surgeon may also collect bloodshed from bleeding during a case, wash it, and reinfuse it at the end of the procedure. Keep in mind that each bloodless heart surgery is unique and designed for each patient’s particular situation, needs, and preferences. The recovery process also deemed on a case-to-case basis.  Reasons to Undergo Bloodless Heart Surgery There are a number of reasons patients choose bloodless heart surgery over traditional heart surgery, which involves blood loss and blood transfusions. It may make sense for those who are concerned about HIV, hepatitis, or other blood-borne diseases...

What Are Heart Murmurs?

There’s a good chance you’ve seen your doctor listen to your heartbeat through a stethoscope and look for a heart murmur. Heart murmurs occur when your heart makes an unusual sound. Characterized by a whooshing or swishing sound between heartbeats, a heart murmur is often completely normal and has no cause for concern. In fact, heart murmurs are quite common and often present in healthy individuals without heart problems. Minimally Invasive and Bloodless Heart Surgery with Dr. Ciuffo is here to dive deeper into what a heart murmur is and what you can expect if you or someone you love has one. Types of Heart Murmurs In general, there are two types of heart murmurs, including: Innocent Heart Murmurs Innocent heart murmurs simply mean that there is faster blood flow through the heart valves but there are no problems. They may arise after vigorous physical activity or exercise and are widely seen in patients with anemia or a shortage of healthy red blood cells, or during pregnancy when the heart needs to work more than usual to support the baby. Innocent murmurs are also common in teenagers who are growing at a rapid phase. Abnormal Heart Murmurs Abnormal murmurs can be a symptom of a structural problem in the heart valve or another abnormality that was present at birth or arose later in life. An abnormal heart murmur may also be the result of a heart valve that narrows and hardens, which occurs as we age. It might not show any other symptoms and can only be discovered by a doctor in a stethoscope exam.  Symptoms and Causes of...