Heart Disease?!

Heart Disease?

hey, I really don't know how to ask this, but if a doctor or many doctors don't have any idea what disease you are carrying, specifically to do with your heart, how risky is it when they only have to cut out a tiny piece just for an examination?

6 days ago
I just know that operating on the heart is the most sensitive area of the body... my dad found out that he had a heart disease, now he's in Thailand to do something about it. The doctor mentioned to my dad it is a risky step, and without us being there to get the whole idea of how risky it is or how the process will go, i'd like to know... is it risky to take out a piece of heart to examine what disease it's having?

I'm not sure if the doctor meant if examining a piece of heart was the life risking step, or if once they found out about the disease, and if it had spearded a lot through out the area, would be the risking step?

I've read here that they[some very equipped hospitals] had a machine that could replace your heart during an open-heart surgery... so im hoping, that this step is .. harmless. or could be taken care of in the minute?

Risks of a heart biopsy are moderate and include cardiac arrhythmias, trauma to the vein or artery, infection, blood clots (thrombosis) in the vein, bleeding from the biopsy site, pneumothorax, injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve, and rupture of the heart (very rare).

Remember that all surgeries have risks. A heart biopsy is done to diagnose myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or certain other cardiac disorders such as cardiomyopathy or cardiac amyloidosis . Click on these websites for definitions of cardiomyopathy and cardiac amyloidosis if needed.
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide...
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart...

I have never had a heart biopsy but I have had open heart surgery. I am not saying your father will have to have open heart surgery, but I supplied some links below to that also. There are several different kinds of open heart surgery, depending upon what is wrong with your father after they do the heart biopsy.

Ask the physicians questions also. If you don't understand what they are saying, tell them to explain again. They can better explain things for you, but are some links below that you can do some research on also.

Click on these links for some info regarding open heart surgery on and off pump and other info about heart biopsy:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.j...
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.j...
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/coron...
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart...
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/...