The preoperative heart surgery is very important for the success of the operation. During the preoperative phase the doctor should do a thorough investigation of the patient's health status, requiring tests and advising them to adopt healthy lifestyle habits such as weight loss and smoking cessation.
Exams for the preoperative cardiac surgery
The examinations that must be performed in the preoperative period of cardiac surgery are:
- chest x-ray,
- echocardiogram,
- doppler of the carotid arteries,
- cardiac catheterization and
- angiotomography of the aorta and coronary arteries.
The analysis of the patient's medical history should be done in detail, so the doctor will be aware of the patient's lifestyle habits such as smoking, not exercising, eating, hygiene, drug use, taking medicines, vaccines that have been taken, diseases and other surgeries already performed.
On physical examination the doctor should observe the skin, the inside of the mouth, make pulmonary and cardiac auscultation, palpation of the abdomen and neurological evaluation.
Important recommendations for before cardiac surgery
Before being operated on the heart is recommended to the individual:
- Stop smoking;
- Having diabetes controlled,
- If it is the case, take the vaccines that are missing;
- To lose weight, if this is obese,
- To prepare the cardiovascular and respiratory system with physical therapy exercises;
- Do not take any aspirin or anticoagulants, which may interfere with the coagulation and healing process.
After following all these steps the patient can then perform cardiac surgery. But in any case, if there is a need to perform cardiac surgery urgently and there is no time to perform the preoperative, this must be done, but the success of the surgery may be compromised.
