Coronary artery bypass surgery

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Coronary artery bypass surgery, also called coronary artery bypass graft (CABG KAB-ij, like "cabbage"), is a surgical procedure to treat coronary artery disease (CAD), the buildup of plaques in the arteries of the heart. It can relieve chest pain caused by CAD, slow the progression of CAD, and increase life expectancy. It aims to bypass narrowings in heart arteries by using arteries or veins harvested from other parts of the body, thus restoring adequate blood supply to the previously ischemic (deprived of blood) heart. There are two main approaches. The first uses a cardiopulmonary bypass machine, operated by a perfusionist, a machine which takes over the functions of the heart and lungs during surgery by circulating blood and oxygen. With the heart in cardioplegic arrest, harvested arteries and veins are used to connect across problematic regions—a construction known as surgical anastomosis. In the second approach, called the off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB), these anastomoses...

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