Doctors discuss new, less invasive heart surgery procedures at 20th annual Rocky Mountain Valve Symposium in Missoula, Montana

Less invasive techniques for heart surgery are improving outcomes for patients, but it’s not just hearts that benefit.

"What we’re doing these days is better for the whole patient, because we’re decreasing recovery time and we’re decreasing the risk of infections," said Doug Murphy, a cardiac surgeon at St. Joseph Hospital in Atlanta. "In some ways, the heart’s not really the problem in heart surgery. It’s everything that comes with it."

What Murphy means is that the procedures previously used to gain access to the heart – most common is the median sternotomy, where the breast bone is cut – were in some ways as problematic as the surgery itself.

20th annual Rocky Mountain Valve Symposium http://www.rockymountainvalvesymposium.org/

By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_c34ce5f4-9611-11df-945f-001cc4c002e0.html