Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

Overview

Coronary Bypass surgery can be performed in one of two ways: utilizing cardiopulmonary bypass (“on pump”) or with the heart beating (“off pump” or “beating heart” surgery). Given the extensive experience of our staff members in both approaches, rather than committing to one approach or the other, our surgeons taylor each patient’s operation based on the patient’s needs, risk factors and anatomy/disease.

Our surgeons are also leaders in the utilization of multiple arterial grafts, including bilateral internal mammary (thoracic) artery utilization (commonly referred to as BIMA or BITA), which has been shown to confer a survival advantage in a certain subset of patients when compared to single left internal mammary (thoracic) artery procedures (“LIMA” or “LITA”).  Our division’s yearly experience with arterial rather than venous conduit use has resulted in more than triple the rate of arterial graft utilization when compared to the national average figures.

We also specialize in coronary artery endarterectomy, a complicated procedure which enables us to offer surgery to many patients who may have been deemed inoperable at other institutions.  We have thus remained a regional and national tertiary referral center for coronary artery bypass surgery, with patients travelling from out of state for a second opinion or for operative treatment.

Our outcomes in coronary bypass surgery have earned us for several years in a row a 3 out of 3 star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, a distinction earned by less than 10% of centers nationally.