Illustration of coronary artery bypass surgery showing new blood vessel paths around a blocked heart artery.

Coronary artery bypass surgery creates a new path for blood to flow to the heart. A healthy blood vessel from another part of the body is used to send blood around a blocked area of an artery. The blood vessel usually comes from an artery in the chest, called the internal mammary artery. Sometimes it's taken from a leg vein, called the saphenous vein.

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