People who’ve had an aortic dissection, which is emergency, lifesaving surgery, may need additional surgeries later to repair the aorta. Also, people who’ve had heart valve surgery and received replacement tissue valves will need the valves replaced after 10 years.
In addition, adults with congenital heart disease often have surgery as a newborn or infant but may need additional operations as they get older.
Alberto Pochettino, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiovascular surgeon, talks about how common it is for people who underwent heart surgery to need a reoperation in the future and why people who fall into these three groups may need additional surgery. He also gives advice about what types of questions to ask a surgeon before undergoing these highly specialized operations.
