What Happens During Surgery?

The cardiac anesthesiologist will take your child to the surgery operating room. Often oral sedation is used beforehand to help your child stay calm. An intravenous line may be needed before your child is put to sleep with an anesthetic since this may be safest. Insertion of other arterial and venous lines, and surgical preparation with cleaning of the skin and draping will not occur until your child is asleep and the surgery itself is started only when all necessary monitoring lines are in place.

Surgery may take from 2 hours or less in a simple, closed-heart operation such as a PDA ligation or coarctation repair, but may take five or six hours or longer in a complex open-heart repair. An operating room nurse or nurse practitioner will update you periodically, either in person or by phone. Normal delays are common and do not mean that there are problems. The surgeon will talk to you in the waiting room when the surgery is completed.