Surgery for heart failure

Many people with heart failure do not need surgery and will be treated with drugs. Surgery is only done when doctors think it will improve someone's quality of life and if the heart is strong enough. In most cases surgery cannot cure heart failure. Many people we talked to had experienced procedures including heart bypasses, pacemakers, defibrillators, ICDs, replacement valves and stents (see'Angiograms and angioplasty'). Everyone who had experienced surgery had taken it seriously and many found it was a turning point in their understanding of heart failure (see also 'Heart transplant').

Some of those with heart valve problems said that surgery had made a real difference to their quality of life; for instance one woman who had already had 4 heart operations told her surgeon she was prepared to take the risk of having a fifth operation (the replacement of her mitral valve). She had felt better afterwards. Another woman who had avoided seeing doctors about her heart for many years was given a new mitral valve and said the operation changed her life.  A large number of people with heart failure have conduction defects where the two ventricles of the heart do not work together properly – this can be corrected by a bi-ventricular pacemaker (for more information see the British Heart Failure). One woman who had been fitted with a bi-ventricular pacemaker as part of a research project, said she found it reassuring to be so well monitored.

She persuaded her surgeon to operate on her and felt her quality of life improved.

Describes how wonderful she felt after her mitral valve was replaced.

Describes how her bi-ventricular pacemaker works.

Some people felt they wanted to have surgery; for instance a man who had bypass surgery because doctors thought it would prevent sudden death (for more information see British Heart Foundation), said that he wanted to feel that everything was being done that could be done. Several others said that they had expected tests to lead to some kind of surgery and felt slightly disappointed to learn that surgery would not help them. Several described having newer smaller pacemakers fitted which they were pleased about; one man said his doctor had shown him a new and old pacemaker side by side.

He had bypass surgery to reduce his chances of sudden death.

It took him some time to realise that surgery wouldn't help his heart failure.

When surgery had led to further complications and people had to stay in hospital longer than expected they said their families often felt under strain. Several said that they were disappointed not to recover from bypass surgery as fast as others around them; one man said that he had expected his bypass to make his heart better but was told afterwards that it was more damaged than he had thought.

Says his by-pass surgery didn't make him feel any better.

Sometimes it took people time to recover from or get used to the effects of surgery. Many people noticed they'd lost weight. A woman with arrhythmia who was given a bi-ventricular pacemaker (for more information see the British Heart Failure) explained that the pulse generator was the size of a large matchbox and that it made her rather uncomfortable when she lay down. Sometimes surgery did go wrong and several people had experienced pain; one man said it had taken 2 years to get the original surgery corrected.

Explains how her bi-ventricular pacemaker works but that it is uncomfortable at night.

Describes the pain he felt after his first operation and how he needed to have the bones in his chest re-aligned.