Submitted by Dr T on May 31, 2012 – 11:13am
Question:
Hello, my husband had a severe heart attack earlier this month. He had a 4way bypass. His doctor said he had permanent heart damage and an ejection fraction of 30-35%. We asked the nurse to read us the echocardiogram and she summed it up as he could still live a couple more years as many people do. This was a shock and insensitive but can you give me some real information about life expectancy please? And thank you!
Hi Amelia,
Nonsense. While he certainly has damage to his heart, it is unknown what his future will be like. Often after successful coronary artery bypass surgery the heart function improves significantly; it happened all the time to patients I operated upon and they certainly lived a long time beyond “3 years”.
However, it will be important to help him stay in the best shape possible, and there are all sorts of treatments for which he should be considered:
Read these links:
Heat Failure
Heart Failure treatments
One of the great benefits of bypass surgery
Hope this helps,
Dr T