Those are the sounds made by your heart. I observed an open heart surgery a few days ago. It was interesting indeed. The procedures involved:
1. The surgeons reached for the heart by sawing through the sternum (the bone right in front of the chest). They used an electrical saw...It looked like a rounded chainsaw. "zzzzzzeeeeeeee" went the chainsaw through the sternum. *yikes!
2. They identified the heart structures and corrected the heart abnormality. Mind you, the heart was still beating while they did this. And I dunno why, but I felt abit odd and surprised when I saw the heart beating away...However, in certain heart surgeries, the surgeons would induce the heart to stop beating medically, with a specially prepared solution containing lots of potassium. (almost similar to the lethal injection used to kill ppl). Once the heart stops beating, the surgeons have about 30-45mins to operate on the heart.
3. While correcting the structures of the heart, the lungs were not used to ventilate the body (lungs stop moving), but the blood from the heart was carried to a heart-lung bypass machine, which helped to oxygenate the blood, and this was brought back to the heart where it was pumped to other parts of the body. I thought this technology was really cool.
4. Throughout the whole procedure, the patient was infused with an anticoagulant in order to prevent blood clot formation, which may cause complications later on.
5. Once everything was done, metal wires were used to join the divide sternum together...these stitches remain in the body forever..and if u did a chest x-ray on the patient, you can actually see them.
This patient that I saw in the op theatre actually had a rare heart condition, called "left atrial isomerism" or "polysplenia syndrome". so he will have 2 left-sided lungs, rotated intestines, multiple spleens. It is a wonder how this condition even occurred, eh?
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