What is Coronary artery bypass graft surgery?

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery is advised for selected groups of patients with significant barrowings and blockages of the heart arteries. Coronary artery bypass graft surgery creates new routes around narrowed and blocked arteries, allowing sufficient blood flow to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle. It is done first through the removal of a blood vessel from either the leg or chest. This blood vessel is then used as a graft in the main bypass surgery.

Patients Having Bypass Graft

Coronary arteries are those small blood vessels that supply the heart muscle with oxygen and nutrients. If you have coronary artery disease (heart disease), your coronary arteries can become narrowed or blocked, restricting the supply of oxygen and nutrients. Clogging of arteries occurs due to the accumulation of fats and cholesterol. This accumulation is known in medical term as atherosclerosis. The full or partial blockage of one or more arteries is ischemic heart disease or coronary artery disease (CAD). This causes the chest pain condition known as angina. The pain might be mild and prolonged or intermittent. Other symptoms are heaviness and pain in the arms, neck, or jaw. This starves the heart of oxygen, which causes pain in the chest called angina. For more information about angina, please see the separate BUPA fact sheet, Angina. All of these complications can be cured through bypass surgery if traditional medicines fail.

Coronary arteries bypass graft surgery Procedure

The procedure lasts around three hours, but may take longer depending on how many grafts need to be done. A CABG is carried out under a general anaesthetic, which means that you will be asleep throughout the procedure and will feel no pain. Surgeon will then make a cut, about 25cm (10") long, down the middle of your breastbone (sternum) and will open your ribcage to reach your heart. In post surgery health care, the patient is placed in ICU and connected to monitors. Post surgery health care requires keeping the leg of the patient elevated to reduce swelling of leg. Constipation, mood swings, and sleeplessness are some of the things the patient can experience in post surgery health care. However, these are just temporary and can be soon cured.