Mercy Cardiothoracic Surgical Associates

Treatment Options

There are numerous surgical and non-surgical treatment options for cardiothoracic-related conditions and diseases. Your primary care doctor and specialists will collaborate to determine the most appropriate treatments and therapies for your coronary or pulmonary condition given a host of factors including your age, family history, results of diagnostic tests, and associated conditions.

Non-Surgical Options
 

Surgery may not be the best, or first, approach for all patients who have heart or lung problems. Fortunately, there are a number of non-surgical options, which can be highly safe and effective.

• Lifestyle Changes
  Often doctors prescribe lifestyle changes for patients with coronary disease or other cardiothoracic-related conditions. Depending on the progression of your condition and other medical factors your physicians may recommend changes such as weight loss, smoking cessation, glucose control (for diabetic patients), and an exercise plan. Mercy offers numerous health-related lifestyle support services including the Mercy Weight Management Center, an Outpatient Diabetes Education Program, Nutrition Services, and Smoking Cessation classes.
   
• Medication and Drug Therapy
  Your physicians may recommend over-the-counter drugs such as aspirin or prescription drugs such as Plavix or anticoagulants (to thin blood or to prevent clot formation), or drugs to lower blood pressure or cholesterol. Drug therapies can help treat the symptoms of many conditions, and perhaps slow the progression in some cases, but they can have limitations.
   
• Catheterization Procedures
  Catheterization is a minimally-invasive procedure whereby a doctor accesses the circulation through an artery in the arm or leg for diagnosis and treatment.  The doctor can clear any blockage or insert a stent in a blocked artery to restore blood flow. Catheterization procedures include:
  • angioplasty (balloon dialation)
  • atherectomy
  • peripheral vascular intervention
  • stent implantation
  • valvuoplasty
  In addition, pacemakers or ICDs can be placed through veins.
   
  

  Surgical Options

  
  If non-surgical options are not effective to treat a patient’s cardiothoracic condition there are several potential surgical options. Mercy Cardiothoracic Surgical Associates have extensive expertise performing several surgical specialties including:
  
  Valvular Heart Disease
  • Complex valve repair and replacement , minimally invasive or with robotic assist 
  Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)/Coronary Atherosclerosis
  • Off-pump coronary artery bypass using arterial conduits
  • Hybrid coronary revascularization
  • Totally endoscopic minimally invasive coronary bypass surgery (TECAB)
  • Transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR)  
  Arrhythmia
  • MAZE procedure for atrial fibrillation
  • Left ventricular lead placements, minimally invasive or with robotic assist
  Thoracic Aortic Disease (TAD)
  • Aortic Dissection Repair
  • Thoracic aortic aneurysm resection
  • Thoracic aortic stent grafting
  • Esophageal cancer surgery
  Minimally Invasive and Robotic Lung Cancer Surgery 
  • Surgery for lung cancer (multimodality approach)
  • Video-assisted lung resection
  • Robotically-assisted lung resection with node dissection