Coronary artery bypass graft

With coronary artery bypass surgery, the surgeon takes a vein from some part of the patient such as the leg. The tissue is then inserted into the aortas as it leaves the heart and the other end of the vein is joined to the coronary artery below the blockage.

Blood then flows from the aorta through the vein graft beyond the blockage to the coronary artery and to the heart muscle.

Sometimes, coronary bypass surgery needs to be repeated after about 10 years or so because the arteries become blocked again.

It is an open heart surgery in which the cardiovascular surgeon cuts through the sternum (breastbone) and exposes the heart.

The success of the surgery depends on the location and the amount of coronary artery disease, the time over which it has occurred and the blood vessels used for bypass.
Coronary artery bypass graft

Blood clots

Thrombosis is a condition in which a blood clot in the heart or in a blood vessel blocks circulation. In 90% of cases, the cause of a fatal or nonfatal heart attack is a blood clot in a coronary artery. The clot often occurs in the surface of a plaque of atheroma that is partially obstructing the lumen of the coronary artery.

Heart attacks, strokes, and varicose veins are all caused by blood clots, which may occur in different parts of the body.

Blood clots are believed to occur in the coronary arteries because of platelets that become sticky when they come in contact with the damaged lining of blood vessels, where atheroma formation had commenced.

A coronary thrombosis can block the blood supply to part of the heart muscle, causing breathlessness and a crushing chest pain. It is the most common cause of a heart attack.

Three coronary arteries supply the heart with blood; they are the right coronary artery and the two branches of the left coronary artery.

Their work is so important that it is dangerous if they are affected by a condition called atherosclerosis, on which fatty material builds up in the artery wall and narrows its blood –carrying channel.
Blood clots

Arteriosclerosis and heart disease

What is arteriosclerosis? Arteriosclerosis is literally means hardening of the arteries, includes all kinds of diseases that damage the arteries and eventfully lead to coronary artery diseases. It involving arteries of various sizes and different layers of the arterial walls.

Arteriosclerosis is responsible for most of the deaths resulting from heart attacks.

The arterials diseases begins with damage to cells of the heart’s arteries and lead to the formation of a fibrous, fatty deposit called plaque.

The arterial plaque slowly increases in size until eventually the amount of blood flowing through the artery is greatly reduced or completely blocked.

If the coronary arteries that carry oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle become obstructed , the flow of blood is cut off completely and a heart attack, or myocardial infarction, can occur resulting damage to the heart muscle.

Arteriosclerosis is the most prevalent chronic among senior citizens and the number one killer in the United States. It mostly affects those between the ages of 40 to 70.
Arteriosclerosis and heart disease