Heart Surgery Services

At Roper St. Francis Healthcare, our goal is to find a treatment that gets you back on your feet and feeling healthy as soon as possible. With that in mind, we have a coordinated care approach that minimizes visits and reduces the amount of time you have to wait for treatment.

When you come for heart surgery, you can also expect:

• A focus on minimally invasive procedures. When it’s safe and appropriate to do so, we use minimally invasive surgeries. These treatments reduce your hospital stay and improve recovery times, so you can get back to doing what you love safely and quickly.
• A team approach to treatment. Cardiologists, radiologists, surgeons, nurses and physician assistants collaborate to create an effective treatment plan.
• Experienced surgeons. We have the most experienced heart surgery team in the region. We have spent more than a decade providing the latest minimally invasive treatments.
• Frequent communication with your primary care doctor or cardiologist. Our process helps your doctor stay informed about your treatment, so he or she can provide appropriate follow-up care.
• Seamless, coordinated care. From pre-op tests to post-op rehabilitation, we go above-and-beyond to make sure your treatment experience is as easy as possible. Our goal is to treat you quickly and safely, so you can get back to doing what you love.

With our coordinated care approach and positive outcomes, patients travel far and wide for our minimally invasive surgery expertise. Roper Hospital ranks in the top 5% of hospitals nationwide for the number of mitral valve repairs we perform each year. In addition to valve repair, we also specialize in minimally invasive treatments for bypass surgery, aneurysm repair, heart rhythm procedures and more.

We offer all types of heart surgery procedures, including many minimally invasive surgeries. Procedures we offer include:

• Aortic aneurysm repair
• Aortic valve replacement and repair
• AtriClip
• Convergent ablation
• Coronary artery bypass
• Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)
• Mitral valve replacement and repair
• MitraClip
• Pacemaker pocket revision
• Surgical MAZE
• Traditional surgical valve replacement and repairs
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)

Minimally invasive procedures

Our heart surgery team uses a minimally invasive approach whenever possible. These techniques can help improve recovery time and reduce your hospital stay. Most of our patients go home within a day or two of the procedure.

Minimally invasive and transcatheter treatments use small incisions to access your heart valves and arteries. We make these incisions on the side of the chest or abdomen. We can also access the heart using catheters, which we insert into an artery in the wrist or groin. Our highly skilled surgeons then use small tools and imaging to perform the surgery.

Because minimally invasive procedures don’t need a large chest incision, most of our patients can go home a day or two after surgery. Recovery time is also shorter, which means you can return to normal activities faster.

Cardiac catheterization labs

Our team has access to advanced cardiac catheterization labs. These labs allow us to offer the latest catheter-based treatments.

During these procedures, the team places a catheter in an artery to access a heart valve or a blockage. Then, interventional cardiologists insert small tools into the catheter to repair or replace the valve or remove the blockage. The team also uses the lab’s detailed imaging to help guide the catheter and tools.

Cardiac catheterization labs also provide more precise and effective treatments with less radiation and faster treatment times. The average procedure time in our labs is 50 minutes.

Heart rhythm procedures

With advanced electrophysiology labs at Roper Hospital, our team is a leader in the latest minimally invasive treatments for heart rhythm conditions. Roper Hospital is one of only two hospitals in the state that offer convergent ablation treatment, which combines minimally invasive heart surgery with an electrophysiology (ablation) procedure. We were also the first hospital in South Carolina to implant 300 WATCHMAN devices.

Post-surgery care

Before you undergo treatment, your care team will coordinate all post-surgery care and appointments. This may include follow-up with your cardiologist and surgeon, cardiac rehabilitation and nutrition counseling. We’ll also make sure to talk with you and your caregiver about your recovery at home after the procedure.

The Roper St. Francis Healthcare heart surgery team includes the region’s most experienced cardiac surgeons, including experts in minimally invasive and transcatheter procedures. Your team will include:

• Cardiologists
• Interventional cardiologists
• Nurses and nurse navigators
• Physician assistants
• Surgeons
• Your primary care physician or cardiologist

Each team member will get to know you and learn about your needs to provide the best possible treatment. Our goal is to find the right procedure that helps you get back to a healthy life as soon as possible.

Our team also has nurse navigators who stay by your side from the moment you walk through our doors. They help with scheduling, answer questions and make sure you complete every test needed for your procedure. We also have a nurse navigator dedicated to heart valve surgery.

Physician assistants are also an important part of our surgery team. These individuals are available to you 24/7 to answer questions and concerns.