What is the procedure for a traditional open-heart surgery?

For this type of heart surgery, you're given medicine to make you fall asleep. A doctor checks your heartbeat, blood pressure, oxygen levels, and breathing during the surgery. A breathing tube is placed in your lungs through your throat and connected to a ventilator (breathing machine).

A surgeon makes a 6- to 8-inch incision (cut) down the center of your chest wall. Your chest bone is cut and your rib cage is opened so that the surgeon can get to your heart.

You're given medicine to thin your blood and keep it from clotting. A heart-lung bypass machine is connected to your heart. This machine takes over for your heart by replacing the heart's pumping action. A specialist oversees the machine. The bypass machine allows the surgeon to operate on a heart that isn't moving and full of blood.

This answer from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has been reviewed and/or edited by Dr. William D. Knopf.