How It Works
To gain access to your heart and coronary arteries, your surgeon will make an incision down the middle of your chest through your sternum (breastbone).
You will then be connected to a cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) pump - or heart-lung machine - that helps circulate blood throughout your body without assistance from your heart.
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After you are on the CPB pump, your Ohio Valley Heart Care surgeon stops your heart in order to perform the surgical procedure. Your surgeon will restart your heart and take your heart off the machine following the procedure.
If your surgeon determines the best alternative vessel for the bypass is the saphenous vein in your leg, the surgeon will make an incision in your leg to remove this large, superficial vein. This incision typically runs the length of your leg. In conjunction with the use of the saphenous vein, the majority of our patients receive either the right or left internal mammary artery or radial artery as grafts.
After the vein is removed, your other veins will take over the saphenous vein's work and continue to circulate blood throughout your leg. The saphenous vein will then be used by the surgeon as a bypass or "graft" around any blockage in a coronary artery. The graft is then placed from the heart's aorta to the coronary artery beyond the obstruction point.
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