When a person has a heart attack, diseased heart valves, blocked arteries in the heart, diabetes or high blood pressure, that person may eventually experience heart failure. Heart failure often damages the heart to the point where it is unable to pump an adequate amount of blood to the body, causing swelling in the ankles and legs, shortness of breath, angina, fatigue and other symptoms. According to the Mayo Clinic, doctors usually treat heart failure with a combination of medications, depending on the patient’s specific symptoms. Some surgeries are also used to treat heart failure patients, however, researchers have just found that one surgery that once seemed promising is not beneficial to patients suffering from heart failure. In ventricular reconstruction surgery, surgeons eliminate damaged heart tissue surrounding the left ventricle, which is the chamber responsible for pumping blood to the body. Surgeons sewed the healthy parts together in the hopes that they would isolated the damaged tissue and eliminate some symptoms of heart failure. However, a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found no improvement in patients that received ventricular reconstruction in addition to bypass surgery over those that received only the bypass surgery.
For the study, researchers followed 1,000 heart failure patients that were randomly chosen to have either bypass surgery or ventricular reconstruction in addition to bypass surgery. Study participants were tracked by researchers for a median of 48 months, who looked at how many participants died or were readmitted to the hospital, as well as their symptoms and levels of physical activity. Researchers found no difference between the death and rehospitalization rates of the two groups and observed that the symptoms of patients in each group improved equally. The only difference researchers found between the two groups was that participants that received both the bypass surgery and the ventricular reconstruction surgery spent more time in the hospital than the other group. Doctors have been performing this surgery on heart failure patients for about 20 years in attempt to treat clogged arteries. However, with the findings of this recent study, ventricular reconstruction surgery will likely become history, since it is of no benefit to the patient. Injuries incurred during surgery may be the result of negligence on the part of a doctor or hospital employee. If you or a loved one was injured by surgery malpractice in NY, call or e-mail the surgery malpractice lawyers at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. Our experienced surgery malpractice lawyers serve clients with Bronx surgical malpractice, Brooklyn surgical malpractice, Queens surgical malpractice, Long Island surgical malpractice and Manhattan surgical malpractice cases. Call today and let us evaluate the facts of your situation and answer any questions you may have regarding your case.
Call us toll-free 1-877-ASK4SAM and visit www.ask4sam.net
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