Heart Surgery at St. Luke’s
St. Luke’s Regional Heart Center performs hundreds of open-heart surgeries every year with outstanding results. Working with an excellent team of operating room nurses, anesthesiologists, physician assistants and perfusionists, St. Luke’s heart surgeons perform the very latest and most effective surgeries. Among these surgeries are:
The “Zipper Club” is a group of individuals who have undergone open heart surgery, who come to St. Luke’s to meet with and counsel patients about what to expect.
Featured Procedures
Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery
Minimally invasive coronary artery bypass is one of the newest advances in heart surgery. Also known as "beating heart" surgery, heart surgeons at St. Luke’s perform this procedure on a beating heart through small cuts made in the wall of patient’s chest. This surgery eliminates the need to use a heart-lung bypass machine during surgery and requires a shorter recovery time.
DaVinci Surgical System
St. Luke’s also is the first hospital in the region, and one of just a handful of hospitals nationwide, performing robotically-assisted heart surgery with the revolutionary DaVinci Surgical System. This minimally invasive heart surgery benefits patients through smaller cuts, decreased pain and faster recovery times. St. Luke’s was the first hospital in Pennsylvania to acquire the DaVinci Surgical System.
St. Luke’s Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit
St. Luke’s Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit (CSICU) staff works with operating room, anesthesia and surgery teams to provide the best care for heart surgery patients. Following surgery, patients spend the next 24 to 48 hours in the ten-bed unit. Here, they will have their own nurse assigned to them. The nurse and a team of therapists monitor each patient throughout his or her recovery.
Surgical Care Unit
When patients are ready to leave the CSICU, they are transferred to a 34-bed Surgical Care Unit in the Priscilla Payne Hurd Pavilion at St. Luke’s Hospital – Bethlehem Campus. This unit features single-patient rooms with private baths. While on the Surgical Care Unit, each patient’s care and activities are coordinated by a primary care nurse and a case manager.
The team of staff from Nutrition Services, Health & Fitness, Pastoral Care and Case Management provide excellent care and teaching on discharge, rehabilitation and healthy living.