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What is heart defect repair?
Heart defect repair is surgery to fix a heart problem that prevents blood from flowing as it should through the heart. The doctor will make a large cut in your chest. The cut is called an incision. It usually is made through the breastbone (sternum). But some types of heart defects are repaired through a cut in the side of the chest between the ribs. The doctor will connect you to a machine that does the jobs of the heart and lungs. It’s called a heart-lung bypass machine. This machine lets the doctor stop your heart while working on the heart.
After the heart is repaired, the doctor will restart your heart. Then the doctor will disconnect the heart-lung machine. He or she will use stitches to close the incision in your chest.
Some heart defects can be fixed with one surgery. But you may need more than one surgery to fix the defect.
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