﻿ How is coronary artery disease (CAD) treated? - Coronary Artery Bypass Graft: Facts about Heart Bypass Surgery

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (cont.)

Medical Author:
Medical Editor:

How is coronary artery disease (CAD) treated?

Medicines used to treat angina reduce the heart muscle demand for oxygen in order to compensate for the reduced blood supply. Three commonly used classes of drugs are the nitrates, beta blockers and calcium blockers. Nitroglycerin (Nitro-Bid) is an example of a nitrate. Examples of beta blockers include propranolol (Inderal) and atenolol (Tenormin). Examples of calcium blockers include amlodopine and felodopine. Unstable angina is also treated with aspirin and the intravenous blood thinner heparin. Aspirin prevents clumping of platelets, while heparin prevents blood clotting on the surface of plaques in a critically narrowed artery. When patients continue to have angina despite maximum medications, or when significant ischemia still occurs with exercise testing, coronary arteriography is usually indicated. Data collected during coronary arteriography help doctors decide whether the patient should be considered for percutaneous coronary intervention, or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), whereby a small stent is used to open up the blockage.

Angioplasty can produce excellent results in carefully selected patients. Under X-ray guidance, a wire is advanced from the groin to the coronary artery. A small catheter with a balloon at the end is threaded over the wire to reach the narrowed segment. The balloon is then inflated to push the artery open, and a stent is inserted.

CABG surgery is performed to relieve angina in patients who have failed medical therapy and are not good candidates for angioplasty (PCI). CABG surgery is ideal for patients with multiple narrowings in multiple coronary artery branches, such as is often seen in patients with diabetes. CABG surgery has been shown to improve long-term survival in patients with significant narrowing of the left main coronary artery, and in patients with significant narrowing of multiple arteries, especially in those with decreased heart muscle pump function.

Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 2/5/2014

Patient Comments

Viewers share their comments
