Is heart surgery safe?
Modern cardiac surgery is remarkably safe, with overall survival rates above 96-99% for most elective procedures. CABG has a 1-3% mortality rate, isolated valve surgery has a 1-3% mortality rate, and TAVR has less than 1% mortality in low-risk patients. Risk increases with emergency surgery, advanced age, multiple comorbidities, and combined procedures. Your individual risk can be precisely estimated using validated models (STS score, EuroSCORE II).
The complete answer.
Cardiac surgery outcomes have improved dramatically over the past 30 years due to advances in surgical technique, anesthesia, cardiopulmonary bypass technology, and postoperative care. Hospital and surgeon volume are strong predictors of safety — high-volume centers with experienced teams consistently achieve better outcomes. The STS National Database, covering over 6,000 participating surgeons, enables transparent outcome tracking and quality improvement. Before surgery, ask your surgeon to calculate your personalized STS risk score and explain what it means for your specific case.
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