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Circulation, Vol 55, 158-163, Copyright © 1977 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

The relationship of patient selection to prognosis following aortocoronary bypass

MJ Conley, AS Wechsler, RW Anderson, HN Oldham, DC Sabiston and RA Rosati

Operative mortality for the first 787 patients who underwent aortocoronary bypass at Duke University Medical Center was 9.7%. Within 699 patients who underwent elective bypass only, operative mortality was 8.8% before January 1, 1972, and 5.4% subsequently. This apparent variation in operative mortality over time was largely a consequence of changing patterns of patient selection, i.e., a two- to three-fold decrease in the prevalence of ventricular dysfunction. Since January 1, 1972, operative mortality for 444 patients with mild or no heart failure who underwent elective bypass only was 5.0%. The 55 patients with left main disease had 12.7% operative mortality. In the 192 patients without left main disease who had one- or two-vessel disease, operative mortality was 1.0%, whereas, 197 patients with three-vessel disease had a 6.6% operative mortality. The 103 patients with three- vessel disease less than 50 years of age underwent operation with a 2.9% mortality. Although these results demonstrate that selected patients may undergo operation with a mortality approaching 1%, it is not clear that only such low risk patients should be offered surgery. Accurate estimates of benefits and risks of aortocoronary bypass surgery are necessary in the management of specific patients.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. E. DeBakey and G. M. Lawrie Aortocoronary-Artery Bypass: Assessment After 13 Years JAMA, February 27, 1978; 239(9): 837 - 839. [Abstract] [PDF]