Heart Bypass Surgery

Before your coronary artery bypass graft surgery, you will be wearing special hospital clothing. After lying on the hospital bed, you receive the medicine, fluid, and anesthetic intravenously. Once the effects of the anesthetic have begun, you will no longer be alert and will not feel any pain. The surgeon begins by cutting through the middle of the chest. The surgeon opens your rib cage to the extent that the heart is exposed to him/her. Currently, heart bypass surgery is often performed minimally invasively with small incisions and robotic procedures. During surgery, you may be connected to a cardiopulmonary bypass device that pumps oxygen-containing blood into your body. Sometimes pump-free surgery is chosen, meaning that you do not need to have a cardiopulmonary bypass during surgery. Surgery is performed while the heart continues beating. The surgeon removes a healthy blood vessel from the leg to bypass the blocked or damaged part of your artery. Radial artery or internal thoracic artery can also be used in this bypass surgery. The surgeon attaches the healthy vein from one end to the above of the blockage site and the other end to the below. When your surgery is complete, the bypass function is evaluated. If it worked properly, the incision would be sutured, bandaged and you will be transferred to the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU).