Bypass Surgery

Candidates

Bypass surgery may be performed in some patients to relieve angina that has not been controlled with medications, and in some who are not good candidates for balloon angioplasty, or in those whose coronary arteries have re-narrowed after angioplasty. For others, bypass surgery is recommended if evidence shows that the patient's life expectancy will be improved, regardless of symptoms.

Bypass surgery is generally done if any of the following conditions are present:

• debilitating angina that cannot be controlled by medication (heart arteries are narrowed so that too little blood reaches the heart muscle) and several coronary arteries are impaired.
• multiple coronary arteries are diseased and the heart's main pump (the left ventricle) is functioning poorly.
• the left main coronary artery, which serves the left ventricle, is severely narrowed or blocked.
• coronary artery blockage that's not appropriate for angioplasty or the artery has re-narrowed after angioplasty.