Open Heart Surgery

Discover Open Heart Surgery At Jupiter Medical Center

Trust Your Heart to Nationally Recognized Experts

Open-heart surgery is one of the world-class, comprehensive cardiovascular services offered at Jupiter Medical Center's Robson Heart and Vascular Institute.

Our cardiac surgery team specializes in the safest and most advanced techniques for conditions that must be treated with open-heart surgery. The team's goal: reduce recovery times and provide the best possible outcomes for Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast patients and their families.

Meet Dr. Arthur Katz, Cardiothoracic Surgeon

Jupiter Medical Center’s open heart surgery program is led by Arthur Katz, M.D. regarded as a national leader in "off-pump" coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) to treat coronary artery disease. He epitomizes the ideal surgeon all patietns want in charge of their heart: someone who provides personalized care and compassion to each patient and family for optimal results and restored health - and a nationally recognized expert who continues to explore innovative surgical technologies and techniques to serve all patients.

A New York Medical College graduate who completed his cardiac surgery fellowship at New York University (NYU) Medical Center, Dr. Katz has more than 25 years of experience across a broad range of complex cardiac surgeries.

What is Open-Heart Surgery?

Open heart surgery is a major operation that requires an incision along the middle of the chest to access the heart, although some techniques allow for smaller incisions. Immediately after surgery, patietns are transferred to Jupiter Medical Center's state-of-the-art cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU), where they recieve highly specialized care from expertly trained ICU nurses and staff.

Caridac rehabilitation is initiated the day after surgery, continues throughout the hospital stay and is available as an outpatient service to help patients recover optimally. Most patients remain in the hospital 5 to 7 days.

When is Open-Heart Surgery Recommended?

Open heart surgery is used to treat problems of the coronary arteries, heart valves, cardiac conduction system, cardiac tumors and to repair aortic aneurysms. Open-heart surgery can:

Treat totally obstructed or blocked coronary arteries of the heart, a procedure called coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

• Repair or replace faulty heart valves.
• Repair a dilatation of the large artery (aorta) that leads away from the heart.
• Treat cardiac arrhythmias not amenable to therapy by our electrophysiologists.
• Remove cardiac tumors.

Jupiter Medical Center offers these open-heart procedures and more:

• Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), which involves removing a healthy artery or vein from antoher part of the body and rerouting it beyond an existing blockage in the heart to restore blood flow. Grafting can be accomplished with the pateint connected to a heart-lung machine (learn more about CABG here) or without the patient connected to a heart-lung machine, a procedure also called "beating heart bypass surgery" (learn more about off-pump CABG here) or without the patient connected to a heart-lung machine, a procedure also called “beating heart bypass surgery” (learn more about off-pump CABG here)
• Repair or replacement of heart valves that do not open and close properly, or that have thickened or atrophied and do not allow blood to flow normally. Learn more about overall heart valve surgery here, and learn specifically about mitral valve repair here and aortic valve repair here and aortic valve repair here.
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), in which a replacement aortic valve is inserted into heart through a balloon catheter fed through the femoral (leg) artery instead of through an incision in the chest. Learn more about TAVR here.
• Aortic aneurysm surgery, which involves open-heart surgery to repair, replace or insert a stent into a weakened or leaking aorta, the major artery that supplies blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Learn more about the procedure in this video.

Rely on the expert physicains and specialized support teams at Jupiter Medical Center to treat all of these and other cardiovascular conditions.