Understanding Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery
You may be surprised to learn that a heart bypass operation actually includes two different surgical procedures.
First, one or more healthy blood vessels are removed (or harvested) from your chest, leg, or arm to be used in creating the bypass or bypasses.
Next, the surgeon uses this healthy vessel to create the bypass, or detour, around the damaged or blocked artery or arteries in the heart. A surgeon connects, or grafts, one end of the harvested vessel to the aorta—the large vessel that supplies blood to the heart. The other end is attached to the coronary artery beyond the blockage to restore blood flow.
With these new bypasses, the heart can then receive its much needed blood supply.