What is bypass surgery?
Coronary bypass surgery is one treatment option if you have a blocked artery to your heart.
Why it's done
You and your doctor might consider it if:
- You have severe chest pain caused by narrowing of several arteries that supply your heart muscle, leaving the muscle short of blood during even light exercise or at rest.
- You have more than one diseased coronary artery, and the heart's main pumping chamber — the left ventricle — isn't functioning well.
- Your left main coronary artery is severely narrowed or blocked. This artery supplies most of the blood to the left ventricle.
- You have an artery blockage that can't be treated with a procedure that involves temporarily inserting and inflating a tiny balloon to widen the artery (angioplasty).
- You've had a previous angioplasty or placement of a small wire mesh tube (stent) to hold the artery open that hasn't been successful. Or you've had a stent placement, but the artery has narrowed again.