Bypass graft surgery was introduced as a way of treating coronary artery disease. In this operation (abbreviated as CABG and sometimes pronounced “cabbage”), cardiac surgeons remove part of the blood vessel (graft) from somewhere else in the body and attach it to a narrowed or blocked coronary artery so the muscle ordinarily supplied by the vessel can be nourished again. For many people who suffer from unremitting angina, CABG can provide dramatic relief.
The principle of bypass graft surgery is to construct a new channel so blood can get around the atherosclerotic blockages in the coronary arteries. Therefore, instead of trying to scrape out the plaques, the surgeon uses a segment of a vessel from another part of the body to transport blood to the far side of the obstruction. Usually the grafts are fashioned from one of the large, accessible saphenous veins that run down the inside of the leg, although recently there has been a trend towards using the internal mammary arteries located under the chest wall.
The principle of bypass graft surgery is to construct a new channel so blood can get around the atherosclerotic blockages in the coronary arteries. Therefore, instead of trying to scrape out the plaques, the surgeon uses a segment of a vessel from another part of the body to transport blood to the far side of the obstruction. Usually the grafts are fashioned from one of the large, accessible saphenous veins that run down the inside of the leg, although recently there has been a trend towards using the internal mammary arteries located under the chest wall.