During the surgery, blood may spill into your chest cavity as small blood vessels are cut. To prevent this blood from interfering with surgery, a nurse or surgeon's assistant will use a suction device which looks like a large plastic straw to suck up the blood. The blood is then recycled back to the body. Despite this effort, though, about half of the people who have CABG surgery end up needing a blood transfusion.
If you are on the heart-lung bypass machine, your doctor will restart your heart. After your bypass grafts have been sewn in place with strong stitches sutures , your doctor will take the clamp off of your aorta. This will allow blood to flow to your heart, and the heart will typically start to beat again. When your heart starts to beat again, you will be taken off the heart-lung bypass machine. Your surgeon may then apply a small electric shock, or your anesthesiologist may administer another medicine to help your heart muscle regain its natural rhythm.
Prior to closing up your sternum, your surgeon will place several small tubes inside your chest cavity, with one end exiting your body through an incision in your upper abdomen. These tubes allow drainage of any extra fluids from your chest. Your surgeon will then close your rib cage and use metal wires to bring the two halves of your sternum back together. Finally, your surgeon will sew the soft tissues and muscles in your chest together with extra-strong stitches, or sutures.
Surgery without complications usually takes 3 to 6 hours, depending on how many coronary arteries are bypassed. Although the CABG procedure is considered a relatively safe procedure, it also involves certain risks. It is important that you educate yourself about the risks of CABG surgery beforehand and talk with your surgeon about how your current health condition will affect your risk for complications. Author: Healthwise Staff. Medical Review: Rakesh K.
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. The right coronary artery divides into smaller branches, including the right posterior descending artery and the acute marginal artery.
Together with the left anterior descending artery, the right coronary artery helps supply blood to the middle or septum of the heart. Smaller branches of the coronary arteries include: obtuse marginal OM , septal perforator SP , and diagonals. Since coronary arteries deliver blood to the heart muscle, any coronary artery disorder or disease can have serious implications by reducing the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle.
This can lead to a heart attack and possibly death. Atherosclerosis a buildup of plaque in the inner lining of an artery causing it to narrow or become blocked is the most common cause of heart disease. There are two main coronary arteries — the left main coronary artery and the right coronary artery. The left main coronary artery divides into two branches called the left anterior descending LAD artery and the left circumflex artery. These larger arteries wrap around the outside of the heart and subdivide, like branches on a tree, into smaller and smaller "marginal" coronary arteries that run around the outside of the heart and send even smaller arteries inward.
But over time, the heart's arteries can gradually stiffen and narrow, as cholesterol-laden plaque builds up inside their walls. This condition, coronary artery disease, is responsible for the heart attacks that strike somewhere in the United States roughly every 40 seconds.
To continue reading this article, you must log in. Already a member? Login ». As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.
Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift.
0コメント