Whats wrong with conventional coronary artery bypass surgery?
Nothing! Well, almost. Again, I strongly recommend conventional coronary artery bypass surgery to the majority of my patients who need coronary artery surgery. In my hands, the success rate approaches 100% and the complication rate is less than 1%. However, like all procedures there are indeed some risks. In the case of conventional coronary artery bypass surgery, there are specific risks related to the use of the heart-lung machine. For example, in order to use the heart-lung machine, the surgeon must place tubes in the heart to drain the blood out to the machine and then other tubes to return the blood to the body after the heart-lung machine restores oxygen to the blood. Although its rare, the sites were these tubes are placed around the heart can bleed, or even tear and cause life-threatening bleeding. Again, this is very rare. Other risks of using the heart-lung machine include allergic reactions, kidney damage, and damage to the blood resulting in difficult clotting. But perhaps
