What Is Coronary Artery Bypass?
Coronary artery bypass is a surgical procedure performed to relieve chest pain (angina pectoris) and prevent heart attacks (myocardial infarction), which are the primary cause of death in women and men in the United States. Everyday approximately 1400 people die of heart attacks in the US. Coronary artery bypass is done on a daily basis at the Inova Heart and Vascular Institute (since 1977), the Virginia Hospital Center and Inova Alexandria Hospital. At CVTSA, we’re proud that our outcomes continue to exceed the national average. During the procedure, one or more blocked coronary arteries are bypassed using another blood vessel as a graft, or bridge, to carry blood around the obstruction. A healthy extra blood vessel from another part of the body is used as the bypass graft. The most frequently used bypass grafts are: • arteries from the chest wall (internal mammary or internal thoracic arteries) • arteries from the leg (saphenous vein) • arteries from the forearm (radial artery) The b
