Heart bypass surgery (coronary artery bypass surgery) is used to replace damaged arteries in your heart muscle. A surgeon uses blood vessels taken from another area of your body to repair the blocked or damaged arteries. The blocked arteries can lead to heart failure.

What are the different types of heart bypass surgery?

The doctor will recommend a certain type of bypass surgery depending on no. of  arteries blocked.

• single bypass: only one artery blocked

• double bypass: two arteries are blocked

• triple bypass: three of the arteries are blocked

• quadruple bypass: four arteries are blocked

Blockage in more arteries means that the surgery may take longer or become more complex.

Why might a person need heart bypass surgery?

• When plaque builds up on your arterial walls, less blood flows to the heart muscle. The muscle is thus more likely to become exhausted and fail. It most often affects the left ventricle, the heart’s primary pump.

• Your coronary arteries become so narrowed or blocked that you run a high risk of a heart attack and it is so severe that it can’t be managed with medication or other treatments.

• Various other conditions include diabetes, emphysema, kidney disease and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) that may add up to heart complications.

What are the risks of heart bypass surgery?

Bleeding, arrhythmia, blood clots, chest pain,infection,kidney failure, low-grade fever, temporary or permanent memory loss, heart attack or stroke.

After the Procedure

1. you will spend 3-7 days in the hospital. You will spend the first night in an intensive care unit . 

2. 2-3 tubes will be in your chest to drain fluid from around your heart. Most likely to be removed 1-3 days after surgery.

3. after surgery you may have a catheter in your bladder to drain urine,  intravenous lines for fluids and you are most likely to be attached to machines that monitor your pulse, temperature and breathing. 

4. you are likely to have several small wires  connected to a pacemaker, which shall be unhooked prior to discharge.

5. you may resume some  of your normal activities and shall be enrolled into a  cardiac rehab programme

6. Normally it takes 4-6 weeks to start feeling better after surgery.

Alternative Names

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