Services & Procedures

Coronary Artery Bypass (CAB)

Most commonly referred to as simply "bypass surgery," this surgery is often performed in people who have angina (chest pain) and coronary artery disease (where plaque has built up in the arteries). During the surgery, a bypass is created by grafting a piece of a vein above and below the blocked area of a coronary artery, enabling blood to flow around the obstruction. Veins are usually taken from the leg, but arteries from the chest may also be used to create a bypass graft.

Traditional coronary bypass surgery involved splitting the sternum, resulting in a large scar and a lengthy recovery time. Since 1995 patients needing coronary bypass procedures involving one or two vein graphs could elect to undergo a minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) procedure in lieu of traditional surgery. Using smaller incisions MIDCAB procedures produce less trauma, less pain and faster recovery.

With the advent of minimally-invasive robotic surgery, however, a new approach to coronary bypass and MIDCAB became available to patients who needed only one vein graph. Robotic surgeons can now accomplish a single graph of the left internal mammory artery to left anterior descending artery using the da Vinci® Surgical System. The superior viewing system and wristed instruments of da Vinci® allow the surgeon to operate with greater precision resulting in less complication and potentially better outcomes than conventional MIDCAB.

For the clinically appropriate patient, the da Vinci® procedure offers a number of potential benefits over traditional surgery, including:

Less post-operative pain
Less risk of infection
Less anesthesia
Less blood loss
Shorter hospital stay
Faster and more complete recovery
Quicker return to normal daily activities