Surgeon Q&A: Ventilator Tube Removal After Heart Surgery

www.Heart-Valv... - Waking up in the intensive care unit (ICU) with a ventilator tube still in after heart surgery can be a very uncomfortable, scary and frustrating experience for patients. To address this concern, new technologies and processes have been developed to remove the breathing tube BEFORE the patient wakes up after cardiac surgery.
In this video, Dr. Marc Gerdisch, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, Indiana, shares his unique approach to removing the ventilator tube while the patient is still in the operating room. Key questions addressed by Dr. Gerdisch about the breathing tube removal include:
1. Why do medical teams keep the ventilator tube in patients after heart surgery?
2. Is it safe to remove the ventilator room in the operating room after heart surgery? What are the risks (e.g. bleeding, cardiac function, blood transfusion)?
3. What are the new technologies and processes developed by Dr. Gerdisch to extubate the patient while in the operating room?
4. What is Dr. Gerdisch's current rate of in-operating room ventilator tube removal? How does that in-operating extubation rate change if the patient has a sternotomy, minimally-invasive or high-risk procedure?
5. What are the advantages of removing the ventilator tube while in the operating room?
To schedule an appointment or second opinion with Dr. Marc Gerdisch, please call [phone] or visit www.heart-valv....