What is coronary bypass graft surgery?
Coronary bypass graft surgery is a surgical procedure for the treatment of coronary artery disease. The disease develops as a result of narrowing of the coronary arteries-the heart’s arteries supplying it with oxygen and nutrients. Fatty deposits, referred to as plaque, clog up the arterial walls. This hinders the flow of well-oxygenated blood to the heart muscle.
Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: Restoring Blood Flow to the Heart
One way to achieve this is to bypass the blocked area of the coronary artery using an alternative route for blood flow. You can accomplish this by utilizing a normal, healthy blood vessel from another part of the body. Surgeons typically take grafts from segments of the leg vein, chest artery, or wrist artery to perform the bypass. They attach the graft above and below the blockage, allowing the blood to circulate around the obstruction and reach the heart muscle. This surgical procedure is called coronary artery bypass surgery.
Traditionally, this surgery involves a large incision in the chest with the heart temporarily stopped. In order to achieve access to the heart, a surgeon will cut the breastbone, or sternum, lengthwise and open up the chest cavity. Once these steps are completed, tubes are introduced into the heart so the heart-lung machine can take over the pumping of blood throughout the body while the heart is stopped during surgery.
Despite the widespread usage and success of the open-heart approach, strategies for bypassing occluded coronary arteries have become less invasive. These include off-pump surgery, brought into the mid-1990s, that avoids the need to stop the heart during the operation. Other methods of surgery include minimal access, also known as keyhole surgery, in which surgeons perform the procedure through small incisions, and robot-assisted surgery, where a mechanical device aids the surgeon.