Future of cardiac surgery, introducing the interventional surgeon

The swift advances in interventional cardiology combined with the increasing risk of cardiac surgical procedures resulted in diminishing volume of coronary and valvular surgery and affected the future of cardiac surgery service and training. Application to cardiac surgery training programs have steadily declined. This cross-sectional study aimed at identifying main weakness facing cardiac surgery and advocating some recommendations to improve the status of current and future of cardiac surgery.

Cross-sectional study was authorized by the institutional review board of King Abdulaziz University and performed among cardiac surgeons and cardiologists in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from May to June 2021. Data were collected by sending questionnaires through email to cardiac surgeons and cardiologists in different cardiac centers all over Saudi Arabia. Out of 200 emails sent to our participants only 55 who responded.

A total of 55 doctors who participated in the study have completed the self-administered questionnaire by electronic mail. Seventy-six percent of the respondents are cardiac surgeons and 24% are cardiologists. Most of the respondents (72.7%, 63.6%) think that the volume of coronary and valvular cardiac surgery patients nowadays is less than before compared to invasive cardiology patients. Most of the respondents (91%) think that coronary cardiac surgery is better than invasive cardiology in left main disease and complex lesions but carries higher risk. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents think that one cardiac center in each city according to the population will provide better cardiac health services compared to small cardiac units.

In the recommendations to improve the future of cardiac surgery, 83% of the respondents agree that residents training in cardiac surgery should be modified to add at least one extra year of training in the Catheterization Laboratory (Cath lab) procedures including coronary, valvular, aortic and arrhythmia, thus introducing the interventional surgeon.