Cardiothoracic surgery is the specialty that involves surgical
management of conditions of the heart and chest. Around 60 per cent
of adult cardiac surgery involves coronary artery bypass grafting,
with the remainder comprising valve surgery and aortic
reconstruction. Thoracic surgery may include removal of lung cancers
or mediastinal tumours, while thoracoscopic surgery comprises
biopsies and pleurodesis. Cardiopulmonary bypass is sometimes used
to enable other ‘major’ surgery such as cancer resections and tumour
surgery. The specialty also encompasses heart and lung
transplantation.
In paediatric patients, surgery largely involves performing repairs
of congenital heart defects, the majority of which are corrected in
the first year of life. Acquired valve defects are also dealt with,
usually in older children and teenagers. Most cardiothoracic surgery
is elective, although there is a steady trickle of acute patients
and surgeons do need to be available to re-operate on elective cases
(which occurs relatively rarely). The specialty offers very good
private practice opportunities.
