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YOUR HEART
TO REHAB
Heart disease doesn’t simply go
away after bypass surgery—
you’ll still need to make healthy
changes to help avoid further heart
troubles. And you’ll want to get
back to work and other activities
once you’re strong again and it’s
safe to do so.
Cardiac rehabilitation can help
with these goals and more. Kootenai
Health offers an outpatient program
led by experts in areas such as ex-
ercise and nutrition. Rehab can help
you recover and learn ways to care
for your heart and physical health.
Your team will tailor a program
just for you that may include:
Exercise training.
The
rehab staff can design an exercise
program that helps strengthen and
protect your heart. You’ll start with
activities that are supervised for
your safety. You’ll also learn how to
exercise at home.
Heart-smart advice.
You’ll
learn easy ways to make heart-
healthy eating choices, such as
planning meals low in artery-
clogging fats, and other key
lifestyle strategies. And you may
need help avoiding or controlling
heart disease risk factors, such
as smoking, diabetes, high blood
pressure and abnormal blood
cholesterol levels.
Emotional support.
If appropri-
ate, you can also get help managing
stress or depression or other feel-
ings that can affect your recovery
and health.
Learn more.
For information on
cardiovascular rehabilitation, call
Kootenai’s cardiac and pulmonary
rehab team at
208-666-2235
.
is used to redirect blood around a nar-
rowed part of a coronary artery.
Kootenai Health performed over
140 heart bypass surgeries in 2011.
The surgery can be performed in one
of several ways.
Most of the time, the heart is
stoppedwithmedicines for the dura-
tion of the surgery (typically three to
five hours) and a heart-lungmachine
takes over for the heart.
A long incision is made in the
chest, and the breastbone is opened
to expose the heart. Next, an artery
or vein is taken, usually from the
chest or a leg, and attached to the
heart. Often, both types of blood
vessels are used.
One end of the vessel is sewn
onto the coronary artery below
the blockage, and the other end is
stitched to a blood supply above it,
such as the aorta (the large artery
at the top of the heart). This bypass
serves as a new route for blood to
flow.
Several arteries may be bypassed
in one operation, which is why it is
sometimes called double, triple or
even quadruple bypass surgery.
Another type of bypass surgery is
off-pump CABG, in which surgeons
operate directly on the beating heart
and therefore don’t need to use a
heart-lung machine.
Also, bypass surgery is sometimes
done through several small inci-
sions in the chest, which may lead
to a faster recovery than with other
types of CABG.
O N T H E R O A D
T O R E C O V E R Y
Bypass surgery can involve a hospi-
tal stay of several days.
Many people can resume work-
ing and other activities about six
weeks after surgery. Though it may
take several more weeks to recover,
you’ll gradually get stronger.
Your doctor will talk to you about
what to expect as you recuperate and
about the importance of following
a treatment plan to help keep the
arteries in your heart open.
“Risk-factor modification is ex-
tremely important,” Dr. Burnett
said. “Whether it’s bypass, balloon
or stent, patients who are aggres-
sive with risk-factor modification
do much better in the long run.”
You might also be referred to
cardiac rehabilitation to help you
recover and to learn ways to keep
your heart healthy.
Y O U R H E A R T H E A L T H
Dr. Burnett and the staff of Northwest Heart and Lung and Heart
Clinics Northwest care for patients in our area. For more informa-
tion on managing your heart health, contact Northwest Heart and Lung at
208-666-2552
or Heart Clinics Northwest at
800-235-3690
.
gery
KOO T E NA I
H E A L T H
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