Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

“Bypass” procedures are used to restore blood flow to the heart by re-routing the blood around blocked arteries. A vein from your leg or an artery from your chest wall or arm is used to create the bypass on your heart. Traditionally this surgery is done on the heart-lung machine with your heart stopped. More modern surgical techniques allow us to do this surgery without the heart lung machine by allowing your heart to beat during the procedure. While nationally only 20% of bypass cases are done off-pump, at Caromont Healthcare, greater than 90% of bypass surgeries are done with this technique. Off pump bypass has been shown to reduce the risks of bypass surgery including: a reduced risk of death, bleeding, stroke and length of stay.

Most saphenous (leg) vein harvests at Caromont are performed using small (1 inch) incisions with an endoscopic technique.