CORONARY BYPASS

also called Coronary Artery Bypass, surgical treatment for coronary heart disease, especially to relieve the pain of angina pectoris. Angina is caused by cardiac ischemia, an insufficient flow of blood through the coronary arteries into the heart musculature. This insufficiency is usually caused by atherosclerotic plaque, which builds up in the coronary arteries, gradually diminishing the flow of blood through them. In addition to causing angina, such occlusion of the arteries is thought to increase the risk of heart attack. The coronary bypass entails transplanting one or more veins to create new paths for arterial blood to flow from the aorta through the coronary arteries, circumventing the obstructed sections of the arteries. The grafts are usually saphenous veins taken from one or both of the patient's legs. Coronary bypass surgery became widely used after its safety and usefulness in relieving the pain of angina were demonstrated in the late 1960s. Opinions differ, however, as to the procedure's efficacy in extending the life span of the coronary patient, and newly developed drugs, available to the public in the early 1980s, were believed by some clinicians to be equally effective in the treatment of angina.