Everything You Need To Know In Bypass Surgery

TripTideUncategorized Everything You Need To Know In Bypass Surgery
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There are a lot of misconceptions about what a bypass is and how it works that result from mixing up the term with other types of surgery. A bypass isn’t a single type of surgery, but rather many different surgeries used to treat heart disease.

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In general, patients get a bypass when their coronary arteries have become too narrow or blocked by a plaque to get enough blood flow through them to support the amount of work their heart needs to do.

Blood flow can be increased in several ways, including removing these blockages and widening the affected portion of the artery so more blood can go through at once, taking vessels from another part of the body so they can be connected to the coronary arteries and rerouted to supply more blood flow to the heart (called a “bypass graft”), and using artery bypass grafts (which are man-made) to increase blood flow.

This surgery is generally used as an emergency treatment for severe blockages, or as an elective surgery for moderate or mild blockage that hasn’t affected symptoms of the patient’s disease yet, but requires attention before it becomes severe enough to be life-threatening.

There also exists another common misconception: A bypass isn’t a one-time event. Quite often people will have more than one bypass during their lives if they have to continue coronary artery disease from years of high cholesterol levels damaging those arteries beyond repair.

For example, many elderly patients who had a single bypass in their 30’s to ’40s for their original heart disease now return with worsening coronary artery disease in their 50’s, 60’s or 70’s.

This time around they will often need two (or more) bypasses because the plaque has continued to build up over time and the arteries are now more narrow than they were before.

Types of Bypass Surgery

A.    Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts (CABG)

1)     Aortocoronary Bypass – The diseased portion of the coronary artery is bypassed by taking a piece of healthy blood vessel from another part of the body (for example, saphenous vein taken from the leg), sewing it into place so it can reroute blood flow around the blockage in the coronary artery, and connecting it to another blood vessel supplying oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle.

2)     Saphenous Vein Bypass – A healthy vein taken from either inside or outside of the leg is used instead of taking a piece of an artery. This has been found to produce better long term results than when arteries are used for bypasses.

3)     Internal Mammary Artery Bypass – The internal mammary artery that runs down the centre edge of your sternum (breastbone), between your lungs, can be taken out and connected to the coronary arteries on both sides of your heart.

Like with saphenous vein bypass surgery, this type of bypass is associated with lower rates of heart attack and death in patients compared to using just the saphenous vein.

4)     Radial Artery Bypass – The radial artery on the inside of your wrist can be taken out and connected to coronary arteries on both sides of the heart. This type of bypass has only been done since 1991, and research studies are still being completed to find out whether or not it produces better results than other types of bypass surgery.

B.    Descending Thoracic Artery Grafts (DTA)

1)     Diagonal Artery Bypass – A diagonal artery off of the aorta (the main artery coming out of your heart that supplies blood to your whole body), is taken and connected to the coronary arteries on both sides of your heart.

C.    Radial Artery Grafts (RA)

1)     Hand Bypass – A healthy artery from the front of your lower leg is taken out and brought up along side of other arteries in your forearm to bring it up to where it can be connected so blood vessels from the other side of your body will supply blood flow to the bottom half of your heart. The wrist has a rich network of blood vessels, so this type of bypass surgery does not require taking a piece out of any part outside or inside the body

2)     Pedal Bypass – Like hand bypass surgery, a healthy artery from one leg is taken out and brought up inside the arm of the same side of your body. It is connected to other arteries in your forearm so blood vessels from the other side of your body will supply blood flow to the bottom half of your heart.

D.    Radial Artery Grafts (RA)

1)     Hand Bypass – A healthy artery from the front of your lower leg is taken out and brought up alongside other arteries in your forearm to bring it up to where it can be connected so blood vessels from the other side of your body will supply blood flow to the bottom half of your heart.

The wrist has a rich network of blood vessels, so this type of bypass surgery does not require taking a piece out of any part outside or inside the body

2)     Pedal Bypass – Like hand bypass surgery, a healthy artery from one leg is taken out and brought up inside the arm of the same side of your body. It is connected to other arteries in your forearm so blood vessels from the other side of your body will supply blood flow to the bottom half of your heart.

E.    Visceral Artery Bypass (VA)

1)     Splenic Artery Bypass – The splenic artery supplies about 1/3rd of all the blood that goes to your spleen and part of your stomach and intestines. It can be taken out and sewn into place so it can reroute blood flow around blockages in coronary arteries.

2)     Gastroepiploic Artery Bypass – The gastroepiploic artery supplies blood to the back of the stomach, pancreas and part of your small intestine. It can be taken out and sewn into place so it can reroute blood flow around blockages in coronary arteries.

3)     Superior Mesenteric Artery Bypass – The superior mesenteric artery supplies 1/4 of all the blood that goes to your intestines by supplying 1/3 rd of all the blood flow to your colon (the large intestine), rectum, cecum, appendix and part of your small intestine.

It can be taken out and sewn into place so it can reroute blood flow around blockages in coronary arteries.

If you want to know more such as the life expectancy after bypass surgery, click it.


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