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So, I think I read some-where that there is a surgical procedure to server the heart's ability to communicate with the brain, for reasons. A negative consequence of this was not being able to, for example, know if you're having a heart attack.

Know what I mean? Edit: I'm asking for the name of the procedure.

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I believe the term you're looking for is cardiac sympathetic denervation (CSD). This is a fairly non-technical explanation of the procedure. It can be left side only (LCSD), right side only (RCSD), or bilateral (BCSD). In short, it's a procedure of last resort to control ventricular arrhythmias when drugs and endocardial ablation procedures have failed.

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  • Would you mind expanding this answer why this is the case? Because AFAIK, they cut the nerves to to the heart (the ganglion of the symphaticus, part of the ANS mostly „sends“ to the heart), not the other way round?
    – Narusan
    Jul 19, 2018 at 18:17
  • @Narusan Did you read the link? It's pretty specific about which nerves are cut. "To help control arrhythmias, surgeons snip the stellate ganglion, as well as the following three ganglia below it to completely remove these nerves that are destined for the heart."
    – Carey Gregory is on strike ♦
    Jul 19, 2018 at 20:38
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    I think Narusan is referencing the OP's mention of not being able to detect a heart attack, which doesn't really make much sense anyways because of the way pain from the heart is sensed, but I think your answer could expand a bit on that relative to the OP's question. Also it's best to include your answer in your answer rather than support it with links that are likely to die in the future.
    – Bryan Krause is on strike ♦
    Jul 19, 2018 at 21:57
  • @BryanKrause I think I addressed the OP's question adequately in that all it really asks for is the name of the procedure. That's why I didn't include more from the link. But I'll wait to see what Narusan has to say and consider adding more then.
    – Carey Gregory is on strike ♦
    Jul 20, 2018 at 1:03
  • Nerves are cut destined for the heart. Without further explanation for OP, this seems the opposite of what they meant (nerves destined for the brain). I think the nerves OP wants to cut are those responsible for Angina pectoris. (As @BrianKrause pointed out). Now, I‘m unsure whether those nerves are part of the symphaticus and the ganglia that are to cut.
    – Narusan
    Jul 20, 2018 at 3:33

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