How do they restart the heart at the end of surgery?

[VegasBAV]

Do they use paddles? Or do they just take you off the heart-lung machine and it starts back up? I don't know. I'll ask my surgeon, but that meeting's not for another month and I'm just curious.

 

[ramjet]

They take you off bypass in a very systematic manner, and flush your heart with a solution and start to warm you and your heart up... sometimes it starts by itself, somtimes it fibrillates and needs to be defibrillated, (they use tiny litttle paddles on the end of long handles and hold the paddles directly on the heart itself).. sometimes it starts in atrial fibrillation with a rapid ventricular response and needs to be cardioverted (with a synchronised ectecrical shock at a lower energy setting, once again delivered directly to the myocardium itself with tiny "paddles" on long handles)...don't worry, it doesn't matter how it starts.... so long as it starts, if it doesn't start then you won't know about it....

 

[Matt C]

Try not to work yourself up prior to surgery blood flow starts its if not above post mentioned it and they leave wire leads out incase it needs pacing.

 

[TheGymGuy]

Heart starting is the least of your problems (to be said and read in a joking voice). They reduce the solution which puts your heart to sleep, and the heart does what it does best - it goes "thump, thump, slurp, thump". If they need to use mini paddles they do. Of all the dangers that all sum up to less than 1%, heart starting is like the lowest one, and is barely non-existant. All surgeons that I interviewed said that heart starting has been a non-issue for varions age-ranges of folks they operated on for valve replacements and aorta fixing.