Management of Heart Failure

Jai Raman, MD, PhD is a highly skilled cardiac and thoracic surgeon known for his efforts to develop new and innovative surgical procedures, especially for the treatment of heart failure. He helped develop ventricular containment (or the wrap procedure) and performed the first eight of these procedures in the world. In addition, Dr. Raman developed the geometric endoventricular repair procedure – a new technique to reconstruct badly scarred heart chambers to restore the shape and size of the heart's ventricles. Dr. Raman is also an expert in the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation. He has created new surgical instruments to perform intra-operative radiofrequency ablation to eliminate the tissue that causes abnormal heart rhythms. His work to develop new techniques to repair mitral and tricuspid valves has been particularly successful. These procedures have spared many patients from requiring early total heart valve replacement. Dr. Raman is actively researching methods to improve graft survival and graft-harvesting procedures for coronary artery bypass graft surgery. He is currently co-coordinating a worldwide study on the long-term efficacy of using the radial artery for bypass surgery. In addition, he is studying the exclusive use of off-pump arterial grafting, which has been shown to decrease the need for red blood cell transfusion during bypass surgery and reduce the risk of stroke. In total, Dr. Raman has performed nearly 2000 heart surgery procedures and more than 600 thoracic operations. His surgical expertise encompasses a wide range of cardiac and thoracic procedures, with particular skill in complex, high-risk cardiac surgeries.

Surgical Perspectives.- Pathophysiology—Clinical Spectrum and Current Management.- Strategies in Surgical Management.- Advanced Heart Failure: Transplant vs Nontransplant Surgical Options.- Transplantation for End-Stage Heart Disease.- OPCAB Treatment for Heart Failure.- Circulatory Support for Bridging to Recovery or Transplantation.- Left Ventricular Reconstruction in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy.- Modifications of the Dor Procedure and Failure Modes of the Procedure.- Mitral Valve Repair.- Destination Therapy with Permanent Mechanical Circulatory Assist Devices.- Enabling Techniques and Technologies.- Catheter-Based and Surgical Therapy for Ventricular Tachycardia.- Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Heart Failure.- Surgical Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation.- Pacing Therapies, Defibrillators, and Post-Operative Arrhythmias.- Ventricular Containment, Shape Change, and Infarct Restraint.- Other Techniques in Special Circumstances: Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy in Right Heart Failure.- Surgical Management of Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Failure due to Congenital Heart Disease.- Anesthetic Management and Hemodynamic Management.- Perioperative and ICU Care, Fluid Management, and Renal Support.- New Therapies and What Is on the Horizon.- Erratum.

From the reviews:

“The new reference work Management of Heart Failure presents an important new, truly multidisciplinary, approach to the patient with advanced heart failure. … volume 2 (edited by Jai Raiman) focuses on surgical strategies for the care of patients with heart failure. … Management of Heart Failure offers a … heterogeneous review of a broad range of medical and surgical strategies for evaluation and management of heart failure. … a welcome addition to the heart failure library … .” (Nancy K. Sweitzer and Mauricio Velez, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 303 (14), April, 2010)