Advances in heart care mean you can easily get back to life.

When Seymour Zate had a heart attack 25 years ago, his doctors had to perform open-heart surgery—requiring an incision that extended from just below his neck to his stomach.

Six years ago, when another blockage was discovered, doctors made a small incision, less than an inch long, to insert a stent and relieve the blockage. For Zate, now 75, the two experiences could not have been more different.

“I was in the hospital almost 10 days after the first surgery but went home just one day after they put in the stent,” he says.

Today’s minimally invasive cardiac procedures, including the use of stents to open blocked arteries, have revolutionized heart-disease treatment. This is especially true when compared to coronary artery bypass surgery, says David Drucker, M.D., board certified cardiologist with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton.

The number of people with coronary artery blockages who require open-heart surgery has been reduced by 50 percent or more in the past 10 to 15 years, says Drucker—though open-heart surgery is still the only option for some.

Many of these procedures are performed by making a small incision and feeding a catheter through an artery in the groin up to an artery of the heart that’s blocked or narrowed. The catheter is then used to insert a balloon that’s inflated to restore blood flow, a procedure known as angioplasty. A stent—a wire mesh tube—is often inserted afterward to keep the artery propped open.

The advances result in less trauma, smaller and fewer incisions, less complexity to the operation and lower complication rates. Zate is just one of many people who have benefited from the improved techniques. Kenneth Stormo, 87, had quintuple-bypass surgery in 1997. In April 2008, his doctor used stents to open a blocked artery.

“I was back to walking much sooner than last time, with a lot less pain and downtime,” Stormo says.

Minimally invasive techniques are used for other cardiac treatments as well, including the implantation of defibrillators and pacemakers. Even valve replacement and repair are starting to move toward becoming minimally invasive.

“One of the most promising innovations right now is an experimental valve replacement that’s performed using a catheter,” Drucker says. “The results of the FDA trial won’t be available for two or three years, but it could prove to be an excellent alternative.”

In as little as five years, more minimally invasive cardiac procedures will be available says Drucker. In the meantime, current techniques are making a world of difference.

“We’re very fortunate that the procedures today are much easier,” Zate says. “If those techniques had been available 25 years ago, maybe I never would have needed open-heart surgery.”

This column is provided by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton.