Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

Coronary artery bypass surgery, also known as coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and colloquially heart bypass or bypass surgery, is a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease. Arteries or veins from elsewhere in the patient’s body are grafted to the coronary arteries to bypass atherosclerotic narrowings and improve the blood supply to the myocardium (heart muscle). This surgery is usually performed with the heart stopped, necessitating the usage of cardiopulmonary bypass; techniques are available to perform CABG on a beating heart, so-called “off-pump” surgery.Prognosis following CABG depends on a variety of factors, and successful grafts typically last 8–15 years. In general, CABG improves the chances of survival of patients who are at high risk (generally triple or higher bypass), though statistically after about five years the difference in survival rate between those who have had surgery and those treated by drug therapy diminishes. Age at the time of CABG is critical to the prognosis, younger patients with no complicating diseases doing better, while older patients can usually be expected to suffer further blockage of the coronary arteries.The value of coronary artery bypass surgery in rescuing someone having a heart attack (by immediately alleviating an obstruction) is clearly defined in multiple studies, but studies have failed to find benefit for bypass surgery vs. medical therapy in stable angina patients. The artery bypass can temporarily alleviate chest pain, but does not increase longevity.

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The “vast majority of heart attacks do not originate with obstructions that narrow arteries”.Patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery will have to avoid certain things for eight to 12 weeks to reduce the risk of opening the incision. These are called sternal precautions. First, patients need to avoid using their arms excessively, such as pushing themselves out of a chair or reaching back before sitting down. To avoid this, patients are encouraged to build up momentum by rocking several times in their chair before standing up. Second, patients should avoid lifting anything in excess of 5–10 pounds. A gallon of milk weighs approximately 8.5 pounds, and is a good reference point for weight limitations. Finally, patients should avoid overhead activities with their hands, such as reaching for sweaters from the top shelf of a closet or reaching for plates or cups from the cupboard.

Several factors may contribute to immediate cognitive decline. The heart-lung blood circulation system and the surgery itself release a variety of debris, including bits of blood cells, tubing, and plaques. For example, when surgeons clamp and connect the aorta to tubing, resulting emboli block blood flow and cause mini strokes. Other heart surgery factors related to mental damage may be events of hypoxia, high or low body temperature, abnormal blood pressure, irregular heart rhythms, and fever after surgery.Grafts can become diseased and may occlude in the months to years after bypass surgery is performed. Patency is the chance that a graft remains open. A graft is considered patent if there is flow through the graft without any significant stenosis in the graft.Graft patency is dependent on a number of factors, including the type of graft used (internal thoracic artery, radial artery, or great saphenous vein), the size or the coronary artery that the graft is anastomosed with, and, of course, the skill of the surgeon(s) performing the procedure. Arterial grafts are far more sensitive to rough handling than the saphenous veins and may go into spasm if handled improperly.

Generally the best patency rates are achieved with the in-situ left internal thoracic artery (the proximal end is left connected to the subclavian artery) with the distal end being anastomosed with the coronary artery (typically the left anterior descending artery or a diagonal branch artery). Lesser patency rates can be expected with radial artery grafts and “free” internal thoracic artery grafts (where the proximal end of the thoracic artery is excised from its origin from the subclavian artery and re-anastomosed with the ascending aorta). Saphenous vein grafts have worse patency rates, but are more available, as the patients can have multiple segments of the saphenous vein used to bypass different arteries.However, Goetz’s has been cited by others, including Kolesov, as the first successful human coronary artery bypass. Goetz’s case has frequently been overlooked. Confusion has persisted for over 40 years and seems to be due to the absence of a full report and to misunderstanding about the type of anastomosis that was created. The anastomosis was intima-to-intima, with the vessels held together with circumferential ligatures over a specially designed metal ring. Kolesov did the first successful coronary bypass using a standard suture technique in 1964, and over the next five years he performed 33 sutured and mechanically stapled anastomoses in Leningrad.

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