Bypass vs Open Heart Surgery | Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) vs Bypass Heart Surgery
The management of heart disease has come a long way from the beginning of modern medicine where nothing productive could be done to save the human life. But now there are pharmacological methods and surgical methods. Pharmacological methods are the use of myriad number of medications in the management, whereas surgical options tend to be anatomical manipulation to produce the desired effect. The surgical techniques have developed so far along that minute changes in the anatomy can be changed using imaging guided devices. Here, we will discuss the two major types of cardiac surgical terminologies that are bandied around open-heart surgery and bypass surgery.
Open Heart Surgery
Open-heart surgery is any surgery where the thoracic cavity is opened into for the purpose of a surgery to be done on the heart muscle, valves, and/or vessels. These surgeries can be further divided into heart pumping and heart not pumping. When the heart muscles is opened into and handled there might be a need for a heart lung machine to mix the oxygen with the blood until the heart comes back “online”. However, some surgeries do not require heart and lung machine where, small instruments are used to manipulate inside the heart. This surgery can be done in any condition, whether it is congenital or acquired.
Bypass Heart Surgery
A bypass heart surgery or coronary artery bypass graft involves in the management of ischaemic heart disease, where the coronary artery or arteries are blocked by plaques or clots. This surgery uses an artery or a vein as a bypass between the proximal and distal portions on either side of the blockage. This is a corrective surgery, and it is a type of open-heart surgery.
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What is the difference between Bypass and Open Heart Surgery? • Open heart surgery denotes a term, which has access to the heart and the composite tissues involved. Bypass graft (CABG) denotes the procedure being conducted. • Open heart surgeries can be either elective or emergency procedures. CABG is usually an elective procedure. • Open heart surgery may or may not require a heart and lung machine, and CABG usually requires a heart and lung machine. • Both thee operations are life saving measures. Both these conditions require medications post operatively along with physiotherapy to bring the cardiovascular efficiency back. • CABG requires long-term management of the person with control of co morbid factors with diet, exercise and drugs. However, this is not the requirement always in open heart surgery. • Open-heart procedures can be done in the field, if required, in the case of an emergency, but a CABG is usually done in a hospital theatre setting.
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Summary
Thus, CABG falls into the category of open-heart surgery. Open-heart surgery is any surgery where the chest cavity is opened, whereas coronary artery bypass graft means, a specific surgery to circumvent a blockage in a coronary artery due to heart disease.