Mr. Mayer undergoes a ___, an open-heart procedure that involves grafting a piece of healthy blood vessel from a separate location into one of the coronary arteries to reroute blood around a blockage

Mr. Mayer undergoes a Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery or bypass surgery, an open-heart procedure that involves grafting a piece of healthy blood vessel from a separate location into one of the coronary arteries to reroute blood around a blockage.

Explanation:

The coronary arteries provide oxygen and sufficient nutrients to the heart muscles. The blockage in coronary arteries by the build up of calcium or lipid plaques causes the narrowing of the arteries and results in coronary artery diseases (CAD), which in turn may lead to death. Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is used in such cases where the blockage cannot be dissolved or removed.

CABG is an open-heart surgical procedure in which a healthy blood vessel from another location in the body is grafted in such a way that it bypass the obstruction in the artery and provides blood to the heart muscles. This grafted blood vessels supply the necessary oxygen and thus increases the function of the heart. The blood vessels used for grafting are usually saphenous vein from the leg and/or internal thoracic artery (internal mammary artery) from the chest.

In this procedure, one end of the saphaneous vein that is removed from the leg is sewn to the aorta or one of its branches and the other end is sewn past the obstruction into the coronary artery. In another approach, the one end of the internal mammary artery is freed and attached to the coronary artery immediately after the blockage.

CABG is usually performed with the heart stopped with the usage of cardiopulmonary bypass machine/pump. It also can be performed on a beating heart either without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass (off-pump surgery) or using partial assistance of the pump (on-pump surgery).