“Will vascular surgery affect my diabetes?”

Sorry you will need to ask your heart surgeon about this.

Improving blood flow to the body is always good. If your vessel is blocked due to atherosclerosis caused by high cholesterol and diabetes, then improving blood flow will help your end organs. In the case of diabetes type 2, this is your pancreas. Of note, the only surgery that has a direct effect on your diabetes is a pancreatic transplant. Vascular surgeries
improve blood flow, but do not replace proper diet and management of your diabetes. I did not mention type 1 diabetes because, in this case, the pancreas is usually no longer working.

First, you should discuss and ask specifically with your surgeon, “What are the usual complications related to the heart valve replacement?” Second, the heart valve replacement surgery will not affect your diabetes, if I am understanding your question correctly, however, your diabetes may affect the wound healing, usually the surgical incision. Regulating the glucose or sugar level pre- and post-operatively will optimize the chance of the wound healing properly.

Thank you.

I doubt your diabetes has much to do with your heart valve disease. Diabetes usually causes problems in the coronary arteries and thus you probably have had not only an echocardiogram to determine your heart valve problem but a coronary angiogram or cath to determine the status of your coronary arteries. A major surgery always causes changes in blood sugars and it wouldn't be unusual for you to be given some insulin to correct them especially during the acute hospitalization period. As you recover, your blood sugars should return to your normal levels and usually can be addressed with the same medication you had before the surgery. Again, it's the major stress of the heart valve replacement surgery that will cause your blood sugars to be a bit more abnormal and your physicians will be well prepared to address this issue. You can trust your medical team to be ready to keep your sugars in safe ranges during this entire time!

No.

The surgery will temporarily cause issues with your blood sugars, but no, it will not change your diabetes.

No, but the reverse is true. Please discuss with your heart surgeon.

Take care.

So, a heart valve procedure is a cardiac procedure and not vascular. The surgery itself can put stress on the body and the borderline diabetic can become a diabetic, but once you start exercising and become more active, you could go back to pre-surgery state. Surgery itself doesn't make you diabetic per se.

Ramandeep Sidhu, MD, FACS, RPVI

Heart valve sugery can have severa complications that you need to discuss with your cardiac surgeon. However having a cardiovascular operation will not negatively affect your diabetes.