Heart-pulsing insights on heart disease prevention, robotic-assisted cardiac surgery

Heart-pulsing insights on heart disease prevention, robotic-assisted cardiac surgery

During February’s National Heart Awareness Month, cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Gary Allen at AdventHealth Waterman appeared on FOX35 House Calls, discussing risk factors and the latest advancements in cardiovascular surgery.

Highlights from Allen’s interview included:

• Preventive Measures: Heart disease can be preventable through simple lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet, regular exercise, stress reduction, and quitting smoking. These measures can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• Innovative Treatments: AdventHealth Waterman offers cutting-edge treatments, including robotic-assisted cardiac surgery. This advanced technology allows for minimally invasive procedures, leading to quicker recovery times and better outcomes for patients with heart disease.
• Regular Check-Ups: Regular heart health check-ups and risk stratification are crucial. Tools like an online heart disease risk assessment and coronary CT scanning to provide a noninvasive picture of the heart can help identify and manage potential risks early on.

With cardiac illness and specifically in cardiac surgery, we're at a point now where cardiac robotics has really penetrated care plans. Now many of our patients are candidates for some form of robotic surgery,” said Allen.

For example, patients with blocked coronary arteries, which is the number one killer in the country, Dr. Allen is able to operate on those patients with really small incisions, maybe 1/2 inch or so, and then sometimes just a little bit bigger. Those patients typically are walking the day of surgery and most of them go home three days after surgery.