Your heart keeps your body moving. When something is wrong, you want expert care and the latest treatments.
At Banner Health, our heart team uses advanced technology and a compassionate approach to diagnose, treat and prevent heart problems. Whether you need a minimally invasive procedure, open-heart surgery or follow-up care, we are here to help you feel stronger and healthier.
Heart procedures and surgeries are treatments that help fix problems with the heart. They can improve blood flow, repair damaged tissue or correct issues with the heart's structure. Some treatments are minimally invasive and use small incisions or catheters. Others require open-heart surgery.
The best treatment for you depends on your condition, overall health and goals. Banner Health offers expert care for many heart and vascular conditions, including:
Many heart conditions can now be treated without large incisions (cuts on the body) or long hospital stays. These minimally invasive procedures are often done through tiny openings in the skin or blood vessels. They can cause less pain, lower the chance of infection and help you recover faster than traditional surgery.
Heart ablation, or cardiac ablation, is a way to fix irregular heartbeats or arrhythmias. It works by targeting small areas of the heart tissue that send out abnormal electrical signals.
These procedures can help stop symptoms like palpitations, dizziness or tiredness (fatigue) that are caused by irregular heartbeats by bringing back a regular heartbeat.
There are several types of ablation procedures, including:
TAVR treats people with aortic valve disease, especially aortic stenosis (a narrowed valve that restricts blood flow). Instead of open-heart surgery, a new valve is guided through a blood vessel in the leg using a thin tube called a catheter.
Once installed, the new valve starts working, helping blood flow more smoothly and making the heart work more efficiently. Most people get better much faster than they would after traditional valve surgery.
The MitraClip procedure is a treatment for people with a leaky mitral valve (mitral regurgitation). During the procedure, doctors use a catheter to guide a small clip to the heart. The clip is attached to the valve to help reduce the leak.
This repair improves blood flow and makes the heart work more efficiently, all without needing open-heart surgery.
The WATCHMAN procedure is for people with atrial fibrillation (AFib) who can’t take blood-thinning medication. During the procedure, a small device is put into the left side of the heart to close off a natural opening in the heart to help stop blood clots from forming.
By closing off this area, the WATCHMAN device lowers stroke risk and provides long-term protection without ongoing medication.
A PFO is a tiny hole that happens naturally between the two upper chambers of the heart. In some adults, this hole doesn’t close after birth and could lead to some health problems.
A PFO closure uses a special device inserted through a catheter to close the hole. This simple, low-risk procedure can help blood flow better and lower the chance of stroke.
Peripheral vascular procedures help improve blood flow in arteries and veins outside the heart and brain. They are often used to treat peripheral artery disease (PAD) and to improve blood flow in the limbs.
Procedures may include:
These procedures can reduce pain and improve movement. They can also help prevent serious problems such as ulcers or limb damage.
A pacemaker is a small device implanted under the skin that controls a slow or irregular heartbeat. It sends tiny electrical signals to help the heart beat normally.
Pacemakers are commonly used to treat conditions such as bradycardia, where the heart beats too slowly.
An ICD is a device placed under the skin that monitors the heart’s rhythm. If it detects a dangerous irregular heartbeat, it delivers a quick electric shock to help the heart return to normal.
ICDs can stop a dangerous heart rhythm and prevent sudden cardiac arrest. This makes it a life-saving tool for many people.
Learn more about what to expect with an ICD.
While minimally invasive techniques are becoming more common, some conditions still need open-heart surgery.
Sometimes called bypass surgery, CABG is a common open-heart operation. When the blood vessels that feed the heart get blocked or narrow, surgeons take a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body, like the chest, arm or leg or use a sterile artificial vessel made from special material. They use it to make a new path for the blood to flow around the blockage.
This procedure restores oxygen-rich blood flow to the heart muscle, relieves chest pain and reduces the risk of heart attack.
Your heart valves open and close with every heartbeat to control blood flow. When a valve doesn’t open fully (stenosis) or leaks (regurgitation), it can make the heart work harder and cause symptoms like fatigue or shortness of breath.
Valve repair and valve replacement surgeries help your heart work normally again. Depending on your condition, a surgeon might use less invasive or robotic-assisted methods when possible. If a replacement is needed, your new valve could be made of metal, plastic or natural tissue.
The Maze procedure is a type of open-heart surgery used to fix atrial fibrillation, a problem with the heartbeat that can cause blood clots and stroke.
During the surgery, a surgeon makes small, precise incisions in the upper chambers of the heart. These cuts create a maze of scar tissue. The scar tissue stops the wrong electrical signals that cause Afib. This helps the heart beat normally again.
The Maze procedure is often performed at the same time as other heart surgeries, such as valve repair or coronary artery bypass.
An aneurysm happens when a part of a blood vessel becomes weak and starts to bulge outward. This can be very dangerous if it happens in the heart or the main blood vessel called the aorta and it needs to be treated.
During aneurysm repair, surgeons replace the weak part of the blood vessel with an artificial patch or graft. This makes the vessel stronger and prevents it from breaking. Depending on where the aneurysm is and how serious it is, the surgery can be done with an open operation or a less invasive method called endovascular surgery.
Surgery to put in a cardiac device can help people with irregular heartbeats or heart failure.
Devices may include:
Heart transplant surgery is a last resort for people with end-stage heart failure. It involves replacing the diseased heart with a healthy donor heart. Since donor hearts are rare and the surgery is very complex, only a few hospitals in the U.S. can do this kind of surgery.
When it comes to something as important as your heart, experience matters. Banner Health offers:
At Banner Health, we don’t just treat heart conditions. We care for the whole person. From prevention and diagnosis to treatment and recovery, we’re here to help you live a longer, healthier life.
Learn what to expect before, during and after surgery.
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