Heart bypass surgery

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	Atherosclerosis	Heart, front view
Posterior heart arteries

Heart bypass surgery creates a new route, called a bypass, for blood and oxygen to reach your heart.

See also:

• Heart bypass surgery - minimally invasive
• Angioplasty and stent placement

Off-pump coronary artery bypass; OPCAB; Beating heart surgery; Bypass surgery - heart; CABG; Coronary artery bypass graft; Coronary artery bypass surgery; Coronary bypass surgery

Before your surgery you will receive general anesthesia. You will be deep asleep (unconscious) and pain-free during surgery.

Once you are unconscious, the heart surgeon will make a 10-inch surgical cut (incision) in the middle of your chest. Your breastbone will be separated to create an opening so your surgeon can see your heart and aorta, the main blood vessel leading from the heart to the rest of your body.

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Most people who have coronary bypass surgery are connected to a heart-lung bypass machine, or bypass pump.

• Your heart is stopped while you are connected to this machine.
• This machine does the work of your heart while your heart is stopped for the surgery. The machine adds oxygen to your blood, and moves your blood through your body.

A newer type of bypass surgery does not use the heart-lung bypass machine. The bypass is created while your heart is still beating. This is called off-pump coronary artery bypass, or OPCAB. This procedure may be used if you could have problems while on the heart-lung machine.

During bypass surgery, the doctor takes a vein or artery from another part of your body and uses it to create a detour (or graft) around the blocked area in your artery.

• Your doctor may use a vein, called the saphenous vein, in your leg. To reach this vein, a surgical cut will be made along the inside of your leg, between your ankle and the groin. One end of the graft will be sewn to your coronary artery. The other end will be sewn to an opening made in your aorta.
• A blood vessel in your chest, called the internal mammary artery (IMA), can also be used as the graft. One end of this artery is already connected to your aorta. The other end is attached to your coronary artery.
• Other arteries are also being used for grafts in bypass surgery. The most common one is the radial artery in your wrist.