During an open heart surgery do doctors freeze the body of their patients?

Question

Like pouring ice all over the body before the heart is stopped...I heard somebody said something about it a long time ago. Is this really true?

Additional Details

Barabara nope i know what i am saying during an open heart surgery a heart must be stopped first for the surgery to be carried out but what i need to know is if the body is frozen with ice or the ice is packed around the heart.

DrM you are quite correct...I have watched a partial video of people actually covered almost complete with ice during open heart surgery.... I was just shocking curious about it.....Thanks DrM... A lot of people always complain about partial numbness when they wak up and feel like they have been frozen.

Another point is that many doctors have told me about bodies being frozen during the surgery...but i still cant believe it...

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

This is an excellent question. Yes, depending on the procedure, they lower the body's temperature to 64 degrees by pouring ice into the open chest cavity and packing the patient's head in ice. This lowers the body's metabolic rate while under this extremely intensive surgical procedure. It is pretty cool to watch if you ever get the chance to observe this sort of surgery!

Source(s):

I am a doctor!

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thanks for answering doc...

Answer 2

no because if they did the patient would suffer hypothermia before the surgery even started

keep the blood pumping with machines and operate on the heart

Answer 3

No

They induce hypothermia.

If the body temperature is lower, the chemical processes in the body slow down (including the uptake of oxygen).
This means that the body can survive longer when the stop the heart temporarally during the surgery.

Answer 4

NO, they don't. They will pack the heart in ice right before bypass, but actually use an infusion of potassium to actually stop the heart. They use chilled blood circulating in the body which does bring down the temperature of the body overall, but not by a whole lot.

Answer 5

Maybe you interpreted freeze as stopping the heart. The heart does get stopped...just not using freezing.

Answer 6

No,they cannot do that because the surgery take about 2 or more hours to do it if the heart stop for so long the person will be died after the surgery and the work will go to waste and so the person will not be freeze or stop any of the heart beat.

Answer 7

freeze? NO. or the cells and organs would die. cardio-pulmonary bypass is done by directing the blood from the heart to a machine where blood is oxygenated and redistributed back to the body.

Answer 8

No they do not freeze your body or reduce the body temperature before open heart surgery.All they do is connect you to a heart lung machine so that the heart can be stopped to enable the surgeons to do their work.When the surgeon has finished,the patient is disconnected from the heart lung machine and the patients heart is restarted.

Source(s):

My father had open heart surgery in 1995.

Answer 9

No The docotors pour cold water on the heart which causes it to stop. Not the whole body.

Answer 10

I had a minor heart attack last September and was conscious for the angioplasty and stent insertion.

The operating room was cool to begin with, and they brought the temperature down more. I vividly recall the surgeon asking them to lower the temperature more. I had to keep my fingers under my hips. It was so chilly in there that they hurt from the cold.

Fortunately, my wife brought long thick socks which they let me keep on my feet during the whole thing, so my feet were not cold.

Since all processes slow down, you also bleed less when it is cold, so a cool operating room improves patient recovery as they lose less blood during any invasive surgery.

In heart surgery, they split open your chest, and have a device that holds the center open about 8-10 inches. Very invasive. I don't know about te ice or cold water thing.

Answer 11

ok ...they don't freeze the body
what they do in open heart surgery is they put ice around the heart to decrease the metabolic demand .or they pour ice water ....i think that is what you heard :)
also they decrease the room tempreture but not to a freezing point.

Source(s):

almost a doctor !