Resources
This page contains links to additional resources that will help prepare you for surgery and help answer questions about your condition.
What to Expect After Heart Surgery
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What to Expect After Heart Surgery

What to Expect After Heart Surgery

This guide is presented by STS to help answer questions that patients and their families often ask before and after heart surgery so that they are better prepared for recovery. Remember: If your physician’s instructions differ in any way from those listed, always follow the advice of your own physician.

The What to Expect After Heart Surgery brochure is available in:

ENGLISH

SPANISH 

PORTUGUESE

Special thanks to Rodolfo Gomes Dias, MD, for providing the Portuguese translation.  

ARABIC

Special thanks to Mohammad Bashar Izzat, MD, for providing the Arabic translation. 

HINDI

Other Materials

Visit ctsurgerypatients.org - Download a printable flyer to share the details of the STS patient website.

Navigating Lung Cancer - A patient education guide, from the CHEST Foundation and STS, provides information on many aspects of lung cancer.

Common Diagnostic Tests - This page contains brief descriptions of many common diagnostic tests used for cardiothoracic patients.

Smoking cessations materials also are available:

Your Lung Operation: Education for a Better Recovery  - This 20-page booklet, from the American College of Surgeons, will help you prepare for your operation and recovery.

STS Risk Calculator
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STS Risk Calculator

The STS Risk Calculator allows a user to calculate a heart surgery patient’s risk of death or complications, such as long length of stay and renal failure. The Risk Calculator incorporates STS risk models that are designed to serve as statistical tools to account for the impact of patient risk factors on heart surgery mortality and morbidity.

Click here to start using the STS Risk Calculator.

Choosing Wisely and Sharecare
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Choosing Wisely and Sharecare

Choosing Wisely 
On February 21, 2013, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) released a list of specific tests and procedures that are commonly ordered, but not always necessary in cardiothoracic surgery.

The list is part of the Choosing Wisely® campaign, an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation that identifies targeted, evidence-based recommendations that can support conversations between patients and physicians about what care is really necessary. 

As part of the Choosing Wisely initiative, STS, the ABIM foundation, and Consumer Reports have collaborated to produce several free patient brochures:

  1. Tests Before Heart Surgery
  2. Heart Stress Tests Before Chest Surgery
  3. Echocardiography After Surgery to Replace a Heart Valve
  4. Medical Tests Before Surgery 

Sharecare
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons also partners with Sharecare, a website developed by Dr. Mehmet Oz and Jeff Arnold as a “home for your health.”

Sharecare experts include physicians and health professionals from all over the country, so users can find the health answers, advice and resources that are right for them - and right nearby – through articles, videos, blogs, programs and assessments.

Visit the STS page on Sharecare to learn more. 

Website Image Credit
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Website Image Credit

This website contains images from the following resources: 

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

The STS mission is to advance cardiothoracic surgeons’ delivery of the highest quality patient care through collaboration, education, research, and advocacy.