Happy to be part of the first Aalst hands-on cadaveric totally endoscopic mitral valve surgery course as a co-organiser and faculty

Presenting our work from Belgium on Redo Endoscopic Mitral Valve Surgery after previous Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.

I had the honour of visiting the Nobel Prize Winner Prof Gregg Semenza in his lab at Johns Hopkins in 2011 discuss with him my research on oxygen requirements and subsequent cellular behaviour of the mitral valve cells

Heart surgery improves patients’ lives and symptoms. With advances in technology, different treatment options were available, and heart surgery can now be offered to a high degree of safety and efficiency.

In order to prepare for heart surgery the patient must undergo detailed pre operative assessment. This will help plan surgery and deal with any medical conditions the patient has.

Cardiac surgery has become very safe in general. Most of heart operations have success rates over 98-99%. Majority of patients undergoing heart surgery enjoy great benefits from surgery with very minimal risks. But complications do happen.

The average hospital stay after heart surgery is about 5 days.

Studies have shown that post operative cardiac rehabilitation improves outcome on the short and long terms.

Dr Kareem Salhiyyah believes that providing a quality service involves offering long term follow up.