OPEN heart surgery is more likely to be successful if the operation is in the afternoon, rather than the morning.
A study suggests patients who have open heart surgery in the afternoon are 50 per cent less likely to suffer tissue damage, heart failure or death.
It is all down to the operation synchronising with the body’s circadian clock and the heart being better able to repair itself in the afternoon.
French scientists suggested it would be better for patients if surgery was postponed to after lunch as there were fewer complications.
They identified a link between the genes that control the body’s internal clock which tells us when to sleep, eat and wake up and our risk of heart damage and major cardiac events after heart surgery.
It identified nearly 300 genes linking the circadian clock to heart damage.
Following open heart surgery, some patients may develop heart damage impacting on the heart’s ability to pump blood, which can lead to heart failure and a heightened risk of death.
Previous studies found cardiovascular events such as heart attacks that happen in the morning may be associated with a higher risk of the damage, compared to afternoon events.
Professor David Montaigne at the University of Lille said: “Part of the biological mechanism behind the damage is affected by a person’s circadian clock.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here