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Inside A Coronary Bypass Surgery

Coronary artery disease, CAD, is a condition where the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle become clogged and narrow, making it difficult for blood and oxygen to reach the muscles of the heart. Coronary bypass surgery is one treatment option to help restore blood flow, when other surgical procedures may not be recommended.

While coronary bypass surgery does not cure the underlying cause of CAD, it can alleviate symptoms, like chest pain, fatigue, difficulty breathing, and palpitations. It is done using general anesthesia, so you will be asleep during the entire procedure. Your surgeon will make an incision in your chest to access your heart and will use a machine to take over blood flow while your heart is temporarily stopped.

In some cases, minimally invasive procedures are possible, where smaller incisions are used or the heart does not need to be stopped. They will remove a healthy blood vessel from a different part of your body-- commonly from the lower leg, arm, or chest-- and relocate it to your heart. The healthy blood vessel will be attached to the heart above and below a blockage to allow blood to bypass the obstruction and flow more freely.

Once your surgeon confirms that blood is circulating properly, they will drain any fluids and sew the incision closed. Follow up with your doctor if you experience post-surgical complications, such as fever, any redness, pain, or discharge from the incision site. ","publisher":"WebMD Video"} ]]>

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Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD; also atherosclerotic heart disease) is the end result of the accumulation of atheromatous plaques within the walls of the coronary arteries that supply the myocardium (the muscle of the heart) with oxygen and nutrients. It is sometimes also called coronary heart disease (CHD). Although CAD is the most common cause of CHD, it is not the only one.

CAD is the leading cause of death worldwide. While the symptoms and signs of coronary artery disease are noted in the advanced state of disease, most individuals with coronary artery disease show no evidence of disease for decades as the disease progresses before the first onset of symptoms, often a "sudden" heart attack, finally arises. After decades of progression, some of these atheromatous plaques may rupture and (along with the activation of the blood clotting system) start limiting blood flow to the heart muscle. The disease is the most common cause of sudden death, and is also the most common reason for death of men and women over 20 years of age. According to present trends in the United States, half of healthy 40-year-old males will develop CAD in the future, and one in three healthy 40-year-old women. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Northern Ireland is the country with the most occurrences of CAD. By contrast, the Maasai of Africa have almost no heart disease.

As the degree of coronary artery disease progresses, there may be near-complete obstruction of the lumen of the coronary artery, severely restricting the flow of oxygen-carrying blood to the myocardium. Individuals with this degree of coronary artery disease typically have suffered from one or more myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), and may have signs and symptoms of chronic coronary ischemia, including symptoms of angina at rest and flash pulmonary edema.

A distinction should be made between myocardial ischemia and myocardial infarction. Ischemia means that the amount of blood supplied to the tissue is inadequate to supply the needs of the tissue. When the myocardium becomes ischemic, it does not function optimally. When large areas of the myocardium becomes ischemic, there can be impairment in the relaxation and contraction of the myocardium. If the blood flow to the tissue is improved, myocardial ischemia can be reversed. Infarction means that the tissue has undergone irreversible death due to lack of sufficient oxygen-rich blood.

An individual may develop a rupture of an atheromatous plaque at any stage of the spectrum of coronary artery disease. The acute rupture of a plaque may lead to an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).

Coronary Artery Bypass

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During a coronary artery bypass, the diseased sections of your coronary arteries are bypassed with healthy artery or vein grafts to increase blood flow to the heart muscle tissue. This procedure is also called coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Bypass typically requires open-chest surgery.

There are several newer, less invasive techniques for bypass surgery that can be used instead of open-chest surgery in some cases. In some procedures, the heart is slowed with medicine but is still beating during the procedure. For these types of surgery, a heart-lung bypass machine is not needed. (For open-chest surgery, a heart-lung machine is needed to circulate the blood and to add oxygen to it.) Other techniques use keyhole procedures or minimally invasive procedures instead of open-chest surgery. Keyhole procedures use several smaller openings in the chest and may or may not require a heart-lung machine. These techniques are still being studied and may not be available in all medical centers.

Open-chest surgery

You'll receive anesthesia before the surgery that will make you sleep. In most cases, bypass surgery is open-chest surgery. During the surgery, your chest will be open and your heart exposed. The surgeon makes a large cut, or incision, in the middle or side of your chest. He or she may cut through your breastbone and spread apart your rib cage.

The surgeon removes a healthy blood vessel—often from the leg—and attaches (grafts) it to the narrowed or blocked artery. The new blood vessel bypasses the diseased artery to increase blood flow to the heart. You may need just one bypass graft, or you may need more. Some people have as many as two, three, or even four (double, triple, or quadruple bypass surgery). How many grafts you need depends on how many arteries are narrowed or blocked and where.

When the surgery is complete, the doctor may use wire to put your rib cage back together and stitches to close the incision. The surgery can take 3 to 6 hours. You will stay in the hospital at least 3 to 8 days after the surgery. It can take 4 to 6 weeks to recover at home. Most people are able to return to work within 1 to 2 months after surgery.

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