Exams and Treatments

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Ross procedure

Objectifs 

This treatment is also known as "pulmonary autograft".

The Ross procedure is conducted to replace a defective native aortic valve with the valve from the pulmonary artery (the main vessel that carries deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs so that it can receive oxygen). 

The aortic valve is therefore replaced with the patient's own biological tissue, which prevents long-term rejection. Long-term anticoagulant therapy is not required for this type of procedure, and the lifespan of the pulmonary autograft is excellent.

Duration 

Patients are admitted the night before or the morning of the procedure, which lasts 4 to 5 hours. The hospital stay is from 5 to 7 days and subsequent recovery time is approximately 3 months. 

Preparation 

The MHI will contact surgical patients at home to plan a pre-admission meeting. If you are unable to attend one of these meetings, you can still get a lot of useful information about your procedure in the MHI's Heart Surgery: Patient's Handbook. If you have concerns before the surgery, you can contact the nurse working with your surgeon at 514-376-3330, extension 4062.

For this procedure, patients must be hospitalized in the Surgical Unit the night before the procedure or must arrive early the morning of the operation. The required exams are as follows: blood work and biochemical analysis, coronary angiography, chest X-ray and, if required, cardiac ultrasound and cardiac CT scan.

On the day of the surgery:
• You must be in a fasting state as of midnight the night before.
• A member of the care team will shave the required areas of the body.
• After being shaved, patients must wash with a disinfectant soap and put on a new hospital gown.
• The nurse will give patients their normal medication as well as medication to help them relax. The nurse applies a nasal cannula to administer oxygen.
• A patient service associate takes the patient to the operating room, where a specialist administers anesthesia.

Heart Surgery: Patient's Handbook

Steps 

For the Ross procedure, patients are put under general anesthesia and on heart-lung bypass. The team, led by the surgeon, then replaces the patient's own pulmonary artery with a pulmonary artery from a cryopreserved cadaver (frozen at -70 oC). After the surgery, patients are transferred to intensive care for 24 to 48 hours. After this period, patients are then transferred back to the Surgery Unit for 5 to 7 days.

After the surgery, patients are transferred to intensive care for 24 to 48 hours. Visits to intensive care are limited to one person for 5 minutes on the day of the surgery and for 15 minutes on the hour starting from 11:00 a.m. the next day.

After this period, patients are then transferred back to the Surgery Unit for 4 to 5 days. In this unit, patients can have visitors during normal visiting hours.

Follow-up and side effects 

Patients must have their blood pressure monitored in particular, as it is imperative that this vital sign stay below normal levels as the autograft heals. Six months after the surgery, the patient's blood pressure can go back to normal levels. Clinical follow-up and ultrasound monitoring are conducted at 3 months and 12 months after the procedure. Patients are then followed by their surgeon and cardiologist.

Contact 
Department of Surgery