During a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), blood flow is rerouted through a new artery or vein that is grafted around diseased sections of your coronary arteries to increase blood flow to the heart muscle tissue. This procedure is also called coronary artery bypass surgery. A bypass typically requires open-chest surgery and the use of a heart-lung bypass machine to circulate the blood and add oxygen.
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.
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. Although these techniques are growing in popularity, they have not been well studied and may not be available in all medical centers.
This information will focus on traditional open-chest bypass surgery.
For the bypass grafts, your surgeon will use either an artery or a vein from your body.
- A vein may be removed from your leg. One end of it is attached to the aorta and the other end to the diseased coronary artery just past the blocked area.
- One end of a mammary artery or another artery in the chest may be detached and reattached to the coronary artery just past the blocked area.
- A portion of the radial artery in your forearm may be used.
Last Updated:
May 14, 2007
