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CABG
If your physician starts visiting with you about CABG, he or she probably isn’t talking about the vegetable you use to make cold slaw. Health care providers have shortened the procedure called coronary artery bypass graft to the letters “CABG,” which they pronounce as “cabbage.” You probably know it better as heart bypass surgery. It’s been around for nearly 30 years, and it’s often used to correct problems that can’t be solved by balloons or stents.
"Bypass" surgery does just that. If a blockage is keeping blood from getting to the heart, CABG just goes around the blockage, much as you would in your car if there was something in your way. In order to supply blood to the heart muscle beyond blockages in the coronary arteries, blood is detoured around the blockage, then it rejoins the same artery at a safe, unblocked point.
To make that detour, a portion of vein is taken from the leg. It’s then attached to the heart artery so that the blood has a clear path to the heart. Many people think that the blockage is cut out, but it is left in place, and blood is simply diverted around it.
What to expect
General anesthesia is used during the CABG procedure. In order to attach the vein to the artery, the heart is stopped and placed on a bypass pump so that the sewing can be done. After all of the grafts are placed, the heart is taken off of the bypass machine, and is restarted.
After surgery, the patient is transferred to an intensive care unit. The tube in the patient's windpipe that was inserted before surgery will stay in place and a mechanical ventilator will be used until the patient can breath safely.
The patient will be transferred out of the intensive care unit usually a day or two after surgery. They’ll be monitored for complications, and encouraged to take deep breaths to keep the lungs clear. Walking is generally encouraged early and often. Patients are usually dismissed from the hospital in 3-7 days, but they do require help at home for another week or two.
