Coronary Bypass Surgery
Coronary or
heart bypass surgery can relieve chest pain.
In the operation, your surgeon uses a blood vessel from your
leg, arm or chest to bypass a narrowed section of a
coronary artery.
Why might I need bypass surgery?
If you’ve been diagnosed with
coronary heart disease or
angina, your doctor might suggest a bypass operation
to help improve the blood supply to your heart muscle. This
will help to relieve angina symptoms and improve your quality of
life.
What happens during bypass surgery?
Your arteries get narrowed when fatty deposits
build up on the inner walls of your arteries. The aim of coronary
bypass surgery is to bypass – or ‘get around’ -
the narrowed sections of your coronary
arteries.
The surgeon does this
by grafting a blood vessel between the
aorta (the main blood vessel leaving the heart)
and a point along the coronary artery, past the narrowed area.
In most cases, at least one of the blood vessels used as a
bypass graft is an artery from your chest called the
internal mammary artery.
Blood vessels such as a vein from your legs and
sometimes an artery from your arms are used for
the other grafts. You can have one graft, but it’s more common to
have two, three or four (often called double,
triple or quadruple
bypasses).
The operation
Benefits
Very successful. Most people get
excellent relief from angina and improved
quality of life.
|
Risks
Different from person to person, depending on
the severity of heart disease,
type of operaton, age, and
current state of health.
|
Recovery
Out of bed in a day or two,
return home after a week, full recovery after
two or three
months, depending on your fitness, age and how
severe the problem was.
|
Surgery is not a cure
So it's important to look after your heart
health long term.
|
Surgeons usually make a cut down the middle of the breastbone to
reach your heart. But in some operations the breastbone doesn't
need to be cut. This is called minimally invasive
surgery.
If your surgeon needs to cut your breastbone,
you will have a long wound down the middle of your chest. If you
have had a vein graft from your leg or an artery graft from your
arm, you will have a smaller wound in these places too.
A heart-lung bypass machine
circulates the blood around your body while the surgeon operates on
your heart, but some surgeons carry out coronary bypass operations
without this machine. This is called beating heart
surgery.
After your operation you will be moved to
intensive care for close monitoring until you wake up. Once your
condition is stable, you will be moved to the high dependency unit
or the cardiac ward.
What do I do when I go home?
In many hospitals a member of the
cardiac rehabilitation
team will see you on the ward to give you information about your
condition and the treatment you have had.
They will talk to you about making
lifestyle changes and how to reduce your
risk factors (the things that
increase your risk of heart disease) to help protect your heart in
the future.
You can also ask the rehabilitation staff any
questions about your recovery. For more information, visit our
Recovery section.
Who can I talk to?
If you have any questions, talk to your doctor
or call our Heart Helpline on 0300 330
3311.
As the day of your surgery gets closer, you may be feeling a
whole range of emotions. You may feel
anxious, afraid, angry, worried about the future or glad that you
are about to have treatment. It’s natural to have these sort of
feelings and it's important to talk about them
with your partner, a friend, relative or healthcare
professional.
More information
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