For years, Linda Mueller couldn’t enjoy life to the fullest because she suffered from AFib, the most common form of irregular heartbeat. After many frightening trips to the ER and several surgeries, Linda underwent an innovative minimally invasive procedure, The Convergent Approach, that changed her life forever.

Lahey Hospital - Specializing in You: The Convergent Approach to Treating Atrial Fibrillation (AFib)

Lahey Hospital & Medical Center’s cardiothoracic surgeons are experts in both traditional and minimally invasive/endovascular approaches.

Minimally invasive procedures require small incisions and use tiny catheters and devices to treat many conditions that in the past could only be addressed by traditional open surgery. Endovascular procedures are a type of minimally invasive procedure and are analogous to operating on the arteries and veins from the inside. Tiny cameras are inserted through small puncture sites in the skin, allowing surgeons to view internal organs close up on a video monitor during procedures.

Benefits of minimally invasive and endovascular techniques typically include faster recovery times and less pain. Not all procedures, however, can be performed less invasively and not all patients are appropriate candidates for these types of procedures.

Examples of less invasive procedures available at Lahey for appropriate patients include: mitral valve repair; coronary bypass grafting (CABG); thoracic lobectomies; transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and vein harvesting.

cardio surgeryA hybrid operating room allows surgeons to perform combined traditional and minimally invasive procedures in the same room when necessary, such as coronary bypass grafting simultaneously with angioplasty and stenting.

Cardiothoracic Surgeons

Richard S. D’Agostino, MD
Christina Williamson, MD
Gregory G. Smaroff, MD

Lahey’s cardiovascular surgeons provide treatments for the following conditions:

  • Arrhythmia (MAZE Surgery)
  • Atrial and ventricular septal defects
  • Aortic Coarctation
  • Coronary artery disease
  • Mediastinal tumors
  • Valvular heart disease