Heart valve replacement is a treatment for heart valve disease, the condition in which one or more of your heart valves don’t work properly. A heart valve opens and closes with each heartbeat to regulate blood flow through the chambers of your heart and to your lungs and body. If a damaged or diseased valve can no longer close tightly, it allows blood to leak backward through the valve. This is called regurgitation.
Valve disease may disrupt normal blood flow in the following ways:
- Regurgitation (backward leakage)
- Stenosis (narrowing)
- Blood clots
Heart valve replacement surgery usually involves removing a damaged or dysfunctional valve and replacing it with an artificial heart valve. They sometimes repair rather than replace heart valves — especially if you’re young, healthy, and haven’t had symptoms of valvular disease for a long time. You can choose from several types of artificial valves and surgical techniques, depending on your needs. Your doctor will help you decide which option is best for you.
Valve replacement is done as either open-heart surgery or as catheter-based procedures. Open heart surgery involves opening the chest and exposing the heart. It is an invasive procedure that requires a hospital stay of at least 2 weeks and a recovery time of about 6 to 8 weeks. In this procedure, they made a cut in the breast bone, which has to be wired back after surgery.
A catheter-based procedure means that the catheter is inserted into a blood vessel in either the neck, arm, or leg and guided up to the heart where it is used to guide devices that perform various functions like valve replacement. This method only requires a small incision (1 inch) at the site through which the catheter was inserted into your body. There will be no scars on the chest and you can get discharged home within 2 days of admission without any wires holding together your bones and require much lesser recovery time than open-heart valves replacement surgery.
Cost of open-heart valve replacement surgery in India
The cost of open-heart surgery in India at different Hospitals depends on the type of procedure you take. It usually starts from INR 3.5 lakhs to INR 4.5 lakhs.
Major factors that determine the cost of Heart Valve Replacement Surgery are:
- Type of artificial valve used (biological or mechanical)
- Type of procedure used (open-chest or closed-chest)
You can get a free consultation done by our experts, who will give you a quote and guide you further.
We also offer international patients with medical tourism assistance services like airport pickup, travel assistance, accommodation near the hospital for the patient’s family members, and more!
Who performed Heart valve replacement Surgery?
The surgery is carried out by a team of surgeons that includes a cardiothoracic surgeon, anesthesiologist, and perfusionist. The cardiothoracic surgeon is the one who performs the surgery. An anesthesiologist and a perfusionist will assist him. The anesthesiologist puts you to sleep and keeps you comfortable throughout the surgical procedure; the perfusionist ensures that your blood circulation continues during the surgery through the heart-lung machine which takes over from your heart during the procedure.
In most cases, they discharge patients 5-7 days after the procedure. Discharge depends on the speed of your recovery and the comfort level of both you and your surgeon.
How much time takes for recovery
Recovering from open-heart surgery takes time and you may need to be patient. You will gradually start doing more in the weeks following your operation, but you must take things slowly.
For the first few weeks after the operation, you will probably be tired and find it difficult to do things that you could easily do before. For example:
- walking upstairs or up hills may leave you feeling out of breath
- lifting heavy objects, such as shopping bags or tins of paint, may cause discomfort around your incision (the cut on your chest)
- driving if you are taking painkillers – check with your doctor first
Most people can resume their normal activities within six weeks. However, if there have been any complications during your surgery or recovery period, it might take longer for you to recover. For example:
- if a blood transfusion was needed because of excessive blood loss during surgery
- if there has been an infection in the wound
What will be the total cost of the surgery
The heart valve replacement surgery cost in India is based on the following:
- The type of artificial valve used
- Whether complications arose during surgery
- How long was your hospital stay was
- Any other medical expenses incurred during treatment or hospitalization
It is advised to consult a cardiologist for the cost depending on what kind of procedure you need and what kind of implant you choose. To begin with we have three types of surgeries:
- Open heart
- Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), also called Robotic or Key Hole Valve Surgery
- Percutaneous Heart Valve Replacement.
These are the latest techniques in Valve Replacement and the best results are achieved by these methods. The cost of a Heart Valve Replacement will depend on how long the hospital stay was, any complications that occurred during surgery, the type of artificial valve used, and other medical expenses incurred during treatment and hospitalization.
