My dad is 77 and had triple bypass almost 20 years ago. He has several blockages again, and also has a valve that has gone bad. I think it is the tricuspid, but couldn't be for sure. This was discovered during an angiogram on Dec 15 and he is growing weary of all of the testing to see if he is a candidate and when and how the operation will go. It was confirmed today that the valve needs attention very soon, after he had an ultrasound of the valve today. Our concern, as a family, is we have been told that his heart is dangerously close to his sternum. I have tried to do several searches and have not found any information on this. I believe that it is a cause of his previous surgery, as from the reaction they had from the surgeon. Is this an unusual occurance? Is it possible to still cut the sternum, is there a careful way to do that? We hope to hear from the surgeon this week the plan. I have heard of other methods of surgery, like through the ribs, but with him also needing bypass, not sure how that would go. Any opinions or previous experience with this issue of the heart being very close to the sternum, would be helpful.