Medical Health Tests >>  Articles >>  Medical Tests

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Procedure



 Submitted by Medical Health Test Team on June 29, 2010
Coronary Artery Bypass Procedure

The coronary artery system is the system that provides fresh oxygenated blood to the tissues of the heart muscle. The heart muscle is constantly beating throughout the life of an individual and it constantly requires nourishment in the form of nutrition and oxygen which is carried to it through the coronary circulation system. This makes the coronary circulation system an important and vital part of the body as the heart will fail without its normal functioning. The coronary arteries tend to be narrower than other arteries in the body. This is because these other arteries provide blood to a large portion of the body so the quantity required, even during normal activity, is larger. The coronary arteries are capable of increasing their blood flow, when they are healthy. This means that when the heart is pumping heavily, the arteries are supplying it with more oxygen and nutrition. When this automatic regulation fails, a patient may suffer from chest pains during exercise even though there is no symptom of heart trouble during normal daily life.

A coronary artery bypass graft procedure is the procedure where one of the coronary arteries is bypassed in order to restore the normal flow of blood. The coronary arteries could easily get blocked or could easily suffer from some structural failure. When this happens, a bypass has to be built in order to allow the blood to avoid the problem area of the artery and flow relatively normally to the heart. A coronary artery bypass graft procedure is a complicated and long surgery. It is done under complete sedation. Another location on the patient’s body is accessed for a piece of artery that is then ‘harvested’. This piece of an artery is then inserted into the heart’s blood supply system. The grafting method is conducted by inserting the new piece of artery just before the blockage and just after the blockage. Blood flows under pressure in these vessels and when there is an alternate route for the blood to flow, the blood will flow there. Thus, the blood will automatically flow through the new route, avoiding the blockage. The coronary artery bypass graft procedure takes many hours and has to be done by a highly skilled team of medical experts. Often there is more than one blockage in the system which leads to the insertion of multiple bypass arteries. This procedure is known as a multiple coronary artery bypass procedure.

Read more articles from the Medical Tests Category.
Related Topics
Related Questions
Search

Today's
Poll

Erection Problems - Is it nervousness during sex or a genuine physical illness?
MedicalHealthTestsİ Copyright 2011. All Rights Reserved.