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SurgSpace / Specialties / Cardiac Surgery

Cardiac Surgery

The heart and great vessels: bypass grafting built on the coronary map, valve repair and replacement stitched millimetres from the conduction system, and the physiology of cardiopulmonary bypass, the machine that lends the patient a heart and lungs for an hour.

3 operations in depth5 interactive cases

Backdrop: A cardiac surgery operating room · Pfree2014 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Read the scan

Imaging

See the study, interpret it, then answer the surgical question.

The studies that shape surgical decision-making. Not a radiology curriculum: what the scan changes about the plan, then practice reading it.

Practice the image

Read the coronary angiogram

A 68-year-old with diabetes and exertional angina despite medical therapy. Coronary angiography is performed. (Fictional educational case.)

Synthetic educational image · schematic coronary tree for interpretation practice

Learn the coronary map where every coordinate is exact: left main, LAD, circumflex and RCA, with a proximal lesion to find and reason about surgically.

Practice the image

Find the flap

Tearing chest pain radiating to the back, a pressure difference between arms. CT angiography of the chest. (Fictional educational case.)

Synthetic educational image · schematic axial CTA for flap-finding practice

Find the intimal flap and say which aorta carries it: the exercise that turns a CT finding into the Stanford classification and the operative decision.

Educational illustration
Three-panel medical illustration: the catheter route from the groin to the heart, the coronary arteries on the heart, and the angiographic view with a narrowing circled
Coronary angiography, illustrated · catheter route, coronary tree, and the angiographic view of a stenosis
CT angiography
Curved planar reformat from a CT angiogram following a single coronary artery, with an arrow and an arrowhead marking bright plaque along its wall
Coronary CT angiography · a single vessel straightened along its course, with calcified plaque marked
Ultrasound
Photograph of an echocardiography monitor showing a continuous-wave Doppler trace with a small colour Doppler image of the heart above it
Echocardiography · continuous-wave Doppler of mitral regurgitation, photographed from the monitor
Educational illustration
Diagram of the heart and its coronary arteries as seen from the left anterior oblique angle
Angiographic projection · left anterior oblique view of the heart and coronaries
Educational illustration
Diagram of the heart and its coronary arteries as seen from the right anterior oblique angle
Angiographic projection · right anterior oblique view of the heart and coronaries

What each study decides

Investigations

  • Echocardiography

    • Ejection fraction and wall motion: what the disease has already cost.
    • Valve anatomy, gradients and regurgitation: the operative question itself.
    • The aortic root and RV function: what the operation must respect.

  • Coronary angiography

    • Which vessels, how proximal, how diffuse: the surgical map.
    • Left main and proximal LAD disease change the operation question entirely.
    • Distal targets: an angiogram also answers whether there is anything worth grafting to.

  • CT angiography

    • The aorta end to end: dissection, aneurysm, calcification.
    • Redo sternotomy planning: what is stuck to the back of the sternum.
    • Cannulation strategy: where bypass can safely enter the circulation.
    Want to interpret the full study? Open in RadSpace

  • Routine pre-operative testing

    • Bloods, crossmatch and carotid assessment where indicated: the quiet checklist that stops loud problems.
    • Lung function and kidneys: bypass is unkind to both, so know the baseline.

Hub shaped by the Surgical Specialties Lead with the Cardiac surgery reviewer (open seat). Images and videos carry their source; educational use for supervised learning, not clinical guidance.