Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG)

Description:
Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is an effective way to prevent angina. Often, it is performed following a heart attack to prevent further attacks.

During coronary artery bypass (CABG) surgery, the cardiologist takes large blood vessels from the patient’s chest, leg, or stomach and grafts them in front of or beyond the blocked arteries. This causes the blood to flow around the arterial blockage through the new graft.

CABG is an open-chest procedure. After the cardiologist opens the chest, he routes the patient’s blood through a heart-lung machine and stops, then restarts, the heart. At this point, he transplants the new vessels. Due to the invasiveness of this surgery, most patients are hospitalized for at least a week. Full recovery does not occur for at least two months.

Cardiologists tend to take grafts from the arteries in the chest wall and abdomen; these seem to have more favorable results than grafts from the saphenous vein, which is in the leg.

The mortality rate of CABG is approximately 3 percent. The most common complication is atrial fibrillation, which causes fast, irregular heartbeats. Atrial fibrillation puts the patient at an increased risk of stroke. Another risk includes blood clots, which can be prevented with anti-clotting drugs.