12:35 As the first vein is sewn to the aorta, Crosby, Stills & Nash are singing on the CD player.

12:40 The second graft is sewn to the aorta, using thinner-than-a-hair 000000 surgical sutures, and the critical phase of the operation is ending.

12:48 The aorta clamp comes off, allowing blood to again flow through the heart. The surgeons manipulate pressure from the heart-lung machine to check that the new grafts can actually carry blood. They can.

12:51 The potassium solution withdrawn, the heart starts moving irregularly. This is fibrillation -- a sometimes-fatal quivering of the heart muscle that does not pump blood.

12:53 A pacemaker is hooked up, to give the heart regular electrical signals to restore the heartbeat.

12:55 Defibrillator paddles are placed on the heart to give it a surge of electricity that ends the chaotic electrical signals and brings back the heartbeat. After a couple of jolts, the monitor shows a steady 98 beats per minute. Although it's coming from the pacemaker, it's still reassuring to see the heart beating again.

1:03 Smith receives a dose of epinephrine through the IV lines, to help the heart stabilize. Steadily, the connections and lines are being withdrawn, but bleeding continues.

1:09 The patient is off bypass and separated from the life-giving heart-lung machine.

1:10 The vein cannula is out, and the large vena cava is being sewn shut. After two hours, the heart-lung machine is no longer sustaining this patient.

1:14 The aortic cannula is pulled out.

1:21 More bleeding. Love and his assistant work together to cauterize and stitch up the leaks. They don't want to sew the breastbone together while Smith is hemorrhaging (defined).

1:41 Still working on the bleeding.

1:44 The large retractor that held the rib cage apart is removed.

1:45 The surgeons begin wiring the chest together, using huge curved needles and heavy gauge stainless steel wire.

1:54 The chest is still open, but the heart-lung machine is rolled away. Its tubes and other disposable parts to be replaced for another operation.

1:56 Sponges are counted, to ensure none are left behind when the chest is closed.

2:02 The wires are pulled and twisted together, rejoining the breastbone.

2:06 A nurse calls the family waiting area to announce that the operation was successful and is concluding. As suturing of the skin continues, the surgical fellow stretches, the result of standing on a platform two feet square for six hours.

2:45 Smith is rolled out of the operating room.

Here's a description of what a patient faces after bypass surgery.

Here's how a heart works -- very briefly.

There are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 documents. (Glossary | Bibliography)