Heart bypass surgery: Procedure, Benefits, and Risk
The blood flows through the Coronary arteries but this artery might sometime get clogged up because of the accumulation of cholesterol or fat. Because of this, the blood flow through these arteries is either slow or stopped. This will cause chest pain and sometimes even a heart attack.
Hence, heart bypass surgery operation is done to increase the flow of blood to the heart and this will restore optimal heart functioning. For this purpose, the surgeon takes a piece of blood vessel from the chest or leg of the patient and grafts it onto the aorta, the artery which leaves the heart and then the other end is grafted to the coronary artery beneath the block which creates a detour around the arterial blockage.
There are the number of bypasses done – single, double, triple, quadruple which refers to how many coronary arteries are bypassed in the operation and also shows the number of blocked coronary arteries. In some bypass operations, a heart-lung machine is employed to maintain the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart during the procedure. When you contact the Best Heart Hospital in Delhi they will provide you with the right suggestion.
Of late, Beating heart bypass surgery or off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) is considered to be safe and proven option to the conventional bypass surgery. However, both OPCAB, as well as traditional bypass surgery, offer beneficial results. When the surgery is done on a beating heart, it eliminates the need for the heart-lung machine. This will result in fewer side effects.
Since we have seen about heart bypass surgery, let’s see about the benefits of beating heart surgery:
- Lower risk of stroke
- Fewer problem with memory loss and thinking skills
- Lower death rate – especially women and high-risk patients
- Less need for transfusion
- Reduced injury to the heart
- Shorter hospital stay
- Fewer heart rhythm problems
It has been seen that the majority of OPCAB surgery patients have improvement or complete relief of their symptoms and remain symptom-free for several years. The recovery from OPCAB surgery is quicker than on pump surgery and also they suffer fewer postoperative complications.
Risks
Coronary artery bypass surgery is one of the most common surgical procedures followed in the medical industry and the risk of death from this surgery is usually very low. The risks involved in the case of OPCAB are also similar to coronary artery bypass surgery. The risks involved are but not limited to:
- Bleeding
- Infection
- Stroke
- Kidney Failure
- Lung Complications
- Death
Some of the factors that determine the risks are:
- Age (older than 70)
- Your health at the time of surgery
- In case of emergency surgery
- Smoking
- Poor heart muscle function
- Diabetes
- Chronic Lung disease
- Chronic kidney failure
In case, you or any of your friends or family member is suffering from cardiac problems, it is ideal to discuss with your doctor about these risk factors and can draw the best plan of treatment for you.