An Introduction to Coronary Bypass Surgery!

Over the past three decades, coronary bypass surgery has been used to treat blocked arteries in millions of heart disease patients. In a heart bypass operation, blood vessels from other parts of the body are used to redirect blood flow around the blocked artery enabling proper blood flow to the heart muscles.

According to some findings, the difference between the survival rates of heart patients treated with bypass surgery and those treated with medication or angioplasty is very little. The primary reason surgeons perform coronary bypass surgery is that the surgery can resolve problems in patients that do not respond to other treatments.

Conditions when Coronary Bypass Surgery can be a life saving procedure:

Most often, coronary bypass surgery is performed for to relieve pain and improve the quality of life instead of prolonging life. Nevertheless, there are certain instances when bypass surgery becomes necessary due to imminent heart failure which might prove fatal.

Some of these situations are:

If the left main coronary artery is narrowed or blocked badly, it will restrict the supply of blood and oxygen to the left ventricle, the main pump of the heart, completely. It might lead to a potentially fatal heart attack or serious damage to the left ventricle.

Some of the other benefits are highlighted and discussed below:

In another situation, if the heart disease sufferer has two or more coronary lesions or the left ventricle functions improperly; the patient may have early signs and symptoms of a significant heart disease problem. The patient will tire easily after minor activity, and the heart will pump blood rapidly but weakly.

The sufferer may experience chest pain or unbearable angina which occurs due to narrowed arteries. Poor oxygen supply to the heart muscles is a vital indicator for the need of bypass surgery.

Coronary bypass surgery is done in a situation when it is not possible to open the blockage using angioplasty or in a case when the blockage occurs again after angioplasty.

Life after Coronary Bypass Surgery

No doubt, bypass operations improve blood flow to the heart; but they do not cure the underlying coronary artery disease that created the problem. There is a possibility of the occurrence of new blockages in the grafted arteries, or in arteries not bypassed in the original surgery. Thus, it becomes important to fight this problem by choosing a healthy diet and lifestyle, and also with aggressive treatment to reduce abnormal cholesterol levels. Smoking must be given up as it greatly reduces the risk factors for high blood pressure. Also, the heart patient needs to maintain a healthy weight, control blood sugar and diabetes, or other health problems, and exercise regularly.

Success Rate of Coronary Heart Surgery:

The success rate for bypass operation is about 98 percent. The patients with severely damaged heart muscles and blocked arteries tend to have higher risk. It must be noted here that no surgery can be carried out without potential risks. There are a lot of complications like arrhythmias, kidney failure, infections and stroke which may happen during or after surgery. Your physician will closely monitor your recovery after surgery to keep an eye on any potential problems and to monitor your medications.