It’s natural to worry when you find out you may need cardiovascular surgery to recover from a heart attack, other heart conditions or vascular disease. Your heart is vital to your survival – and that’s why it’s important to have confidence in your surgical team.

Aurora Health Care’s heart surgeons’ level of experience, combined with our dedication to compassionate treatment, means you can trust us to take exceptional care of your heart.

Types of heart treatment

Our heart and vascular surgeons provide care at multiple locations in eastern Wisconsin, including Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee.

Our surgeons work closely with our cardiovascular and thoracic teams to improve your heart health. Together, we create a collaborative treatment plan, including heart surgery, tailored to your specific health needs.

• Heart bypass: A coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery reroutes blood vessels to go around blockages in the heart’s arteries. Bypass surgery makes it possible for blood to reach all areas of the heart, which can prevent a heart attack.
• Heart valve repair and replacement: The heart valves open and close to pump blood through the heart. When other treatments don’t work, heart valve repair and replacement surgery may help restore the valve.  We offer many minimally invasive options like catheterization procedures to reduce your pain and shorten your recovery time.
• Aneurysm and blood vessel repair: Aortic repair surgery can help manage problems with the aorta. Surgeons can repair tears and bulges in artery walls that can burst and cause internal bleeding.
• Arrhythmia care: We often correct arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) with medication, minimally invasive procedures in the cardiac catheterization laboratory or with open heart surgery.
• Heart transplant: Sometimes, advanced heart failure requires a new heart. We are Wisconsin’s heart transplant leaders, having completed 1,000 such procedures.
• Improving heart function: We may treat atherosclerosis with surgery to remove plaque from the heart or arteries. We may also surgically treat cardiomyopathy (an enlarged, weakened heart) to improve blood flow.

How long does bypass surgery take?

Most heart bypass surgeries take between three and six hours. Bypass surgery is the most common type of open heart surgery performed in the U.S.

What is open heart surgery?

Open heart surgery refers to surgery that needs to be performed while the heart is stopped. While the open heart surgery procedure is being done, you are connected to a heart-lung bypass machine or bypass pump, which does the work of your heart.

After open heart surgery, it’s important to take enough time to make a full recovery. Open heart surgery puts a lot of stress on your body, so it’s important to follow your surgeon’s instructions about limitations on your activities carefully.

Types of open heart surgery

Open heart surgery may be needed for the following conditions.

• Coronary artery bypass graft
• Heart valve surgery
• Surgery to correct a congenital heart defect

Placing your trust in our team

People from around the Midwest choose our hospitals and clinics for our track record of safety and excellence, especially in transcatheter procedures. You can feel confident with our:

• National ranking: U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks our heart program among the best in the country. We’re dedicated to improving and transforming heart care.
• ACC Valve Center of Excellence Certified: This certification from the American College of Cardiology identifies Aurora St. Luke's as a leader in transcatheter valve procedures.
• Latest treatments: We continually use the latest technology. Whenever possible, we make a procedure less invasive so that your recovery can be faster and easier.
• Top team: Our surgical teams and interventional cardiologists perform about 1,500 heart and vascular procedures every year. Our experience translates into better results for the people we care for.
• Innovative research: We’re leaders in clinical trials and cardiovascular research to study new surgical approaches, including leading the Midwest in minimally invasive valve replacement or repair. We also study new devices to treat heart failure, arrhythmia and other types of heart disease.
• Advanced technology: At our robotic heart center, our specially trained surgeons use robotic surgical tools to perform precise cardiovascular surgery with the smallest possible incisions. We also have several hybrid cardiac catheterization labs that combine interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery in one procedure for better results.