What is By-pass? - Who is it applied to? The word meaning of the bypass can be defined as bridging. By-pass surgery is a general naming for the surgical treatment method used in occlusive diseases of the arteries in our body. In other words, in an artery that has contraction or blockage in a certain region and therefore cannot carry enough blood to the area it feeds, the blood requirement is created by creating a bridge through the vein prepared from another part of the body beyond the blocked area. The arteries that supply the heart are called “coronary vessels” and the surgical procedure performed in case of narrowing or obstruction is called “Coronary By-pass surgery”. In parallel with the prevalence of coronary vascular diseases, when we say “by-pass surgery” for these operations, which are applied in a wide and wide range, surgical intervention for coronary vessels comes to mind in our society. How Long Is By-Pass Surgery? It depends on the type of surgery performed, the number of by-passes to be performed, whether there are any other surgical interventions for the heart in the same session, and whether they have had any heart surgery before. Which Vessels Can Be Performed By-Pass Surgery? It feeds the heart, three coronary vessels and the lateral branches from them. The number of lateral branches, diameters and widths of the areas they feed vary from person to person. The diameters of the coronary vessels are usually 1 to 2.5 mm in the human heart. According to the number of vessels, detected in coronary angiography, generally 1 mm. By-pass is performed on all vessels with diameters on it. Which grafts are used in by-pass surgeries? It has two different features, one of which is the artery and the other is the vein. As the arteries, "right and left breast arteries, right or left arm arteries" are the most frequently used today. The grafts used as vein can be prepared from both legs. The choice of grafts in by-pass surgeries depends on the age of the patient, the anatomical condition of the coronary vessels that can vary, the presence of other concomitant diseases, and the number of bypasses to be performed. In recent years, especially in patients under 60 years of age, only arterial use is preferred, whereas in patients over this age group, arterial and vein grafts are generally used together (depending on the number of bypasses to be performed).
