Does online support help patients recover better after heart surgery?

Cardiac surgical procedures, such as bypass surgery or heart valve surgery, are particularly demanding for patients. Despite significant medical advances, many patients still report a reduced quality of life or persistent symptoms in the long term. Often, such unsatisfactory outcomes cannot be adequately explained by medical factors alone.

Research has now shown that patients’ expectations prior to surgery have a major influence on treatment success. And these expectations can be changed: As part of the “PSY-HEART-I” study, researchers were able to achieve long-term health benefits by specifically optimizing patients’ expectations regarding an upcoming heart surgery. They achieved this through a brief psychological intervention (“EXPECT”), which was a face-to-face program accessible only to a limited number of patients. Those who were unable to attend the sessions for organizational, time-related, or health-related reasons could not participate in the program.

Can expectations also be optimized via the internet?

The affiliated project AF03 is now attempting to close this gap in care. As part of a new study („iHEART“) researchers are investigating how the successful “EXPECT” intervention can be adapted into an internet-based format that is equally well-received by patients. This approach could make it possible to prepare more people psychologically for their heart surgery while conserving resources.

The researchers will first compare different levels of psychological support with standard medical treatment as part of a feasibility study. At the same time, they will test different forms of internet-based communication and examine the effects of the intervention at several time points for up to six months after surgery. The findings from this study will then inform a multicenter efficacy trial to evaluate the effects of the interventions on a larger scale.

The results could not only make heart surgeries more successful with minimal effort

If the internet-based interventions demonstrate effects comparable to those of the face-to-face format, this could open up entirely new possibilities for the care of heart patients. This is because internet-based formats require less effort not only for the patients themselves but also for the healthcare system. As a result, a lot more people could benefit from psychological support – and thus from potentially better surgical outcomes – at relatively low cost. Furthermore, these approaches could also be applied to other medical procedures.