Understanding Your Treatment Options for a Scarred Heart
If you have been diagnosed with a scarred left ventricle after your heart attack, the damage to your heart may require a structural intervention at some point during the progression of heart failure. Structural interventions may include open-heart surgery (invasive) or the LIVE® Procedure, which is a less invasive, closed chest treatment option.
Open-Heart Surgery (Invasive)
Performed through an 20-25 cm cut into the center of your chest (median sternotomy) to gain full access to the heart, SVR cuts out the scarred portion of your heart and stitches the healthy tissue together. Since this is often viewed as a very invasive procedure, doctors rarely refer patients for this form of treatment as the risk is too high.
Open-heart surgery typically requires a heart-lung machine which temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs to maintain circulation of blood to the body. This is called cardiopulmonary bypass.
The LIVE® Procedure
Less Invasive Ventricular Enhancement or the LIVE® procedure is a closed-chest, catheter-based technique for excluding the scar from the cavity of the left ventricle. An interventional cardiologist along with a cardiothoracic surgeon will work together to reconstruct the left ventricle using the Revivent TC® System. The interventional cardiologist will operate from the right side of the neck through the jugular vein and the cardiothoracic surgeon will maneuver through a small 4 cm incision on the left side of the chest. They will guide the Revivent TC® System into position along the scarred portion of the left ventricle utilizing x-ray and ultrasound, while the heart is still beating. This approach removes the need for cardiopulmonary bypass, increases the safety of the procedure, and allows for a much quicker recovery time.
