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Open Heart Surgery Diagram: Chest Incision And Sternotomy

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page Last Updated: June 8, 2025

Every few days, I see a picture or image on the Internet that really captures my attention. Many times, those pictures are diagrams and illustrations that relate to heart valve surgery.

As I remember it, before my aortic valve replacement and pulmonary valve replacement surgery, I had a difficult time grasping what actually occurs during the operation.

That said, I have included many pictures, drawings and images in this blog to help you better contemplate what occurs during the pre- and post-operative heart valve replacement or heart valve repair experience.

Your responses have so far been very positive. So, I am going to continue posting many more pictures - including human heart diagram, animated anatomy of heart functioning, mitral valve replacement diagram and more.

Above, you will see a very interesting diagram of the patient's chest following the incision and median sternotomy - the sternum is already broken. As you can see, the surgeon now has full access to operate on the heart once the patient is placed on the heart-lung machine (bypass) if required. Then, the heart can be stopped, cooled, fixed and the restarted.

I hope you don't think this is too gruesome. I found it educational and thought you might like to see an open heart surgery illustration of the chest during surgery. If you would prefer not to see stuff like this, please leave a reply below.

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

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