How is it done?
Usually valve surgery is performed through open-heart surgery, which is done on cardio pulmonary bypass using Heart lung Machine. You will receive a general anesthetic. This drug will relax your muscles, keep you from feeling pain, and put you in a deep sleep. The doctor will make a cut (incision) in your chest and divide the sternum (the flat bone in the center of the chest). The doctor will connect you to a heart-lung machine, which will take over the work of the heart and lungs during the operation.

The doctor will stop your heart and make a cut in it to expose the valve. He or she will remove the valve and replace it with an artificial one. The doctor will then close the cut in your heart, restart your heart, disconnect the heart-lung machine, and close the incision in your chest.

The doctor will leave some tubes in your chest to drain blood and fluid, which normally gather there or in the sac around the heart. The tubes are removed in a day or two.