CABG--prognosis when graft failure 2 months post-op?

[ocean waves]

Hello. Have any of you worked with coronary artery by-pass patients who experienced blockage of one of the grafts only two months after surgery? One of my relatives had a quintuple by-pass in November and then developed significant left arm pain during walking two months later. The cardiac doc did a repeat cardiac cath and unfortunately discovered that one of the grafts had already developed a partial block! At that time the doc placed a stent in the blocked graft which seemed to restore the circulation to the heart. How common is bypass graft failure? Do such patients have a less positive prognosis than bypass patients who do not experience complications?

[NurseStephRN]

We had a patient re-occlude within 48 hours post-op! Turns out he had some kind of hypercoagulable issue with his blood that had been undiagnosed until that point. He got fixed, got better and went home :)

I've been working with Open Hearts for about 3 years and that was the first re-occlusion I remember us having.

[dianah, ASN]

Many articles appeared when I did a search for "early bypass graft occlusion" or "early bypass graft failure." :)

While it is not common, it does happen, and there may be many contributing factors/causes.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3579569

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14663601

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/expert.q.a/11/16/heart.blockage.brawley/index.html

As a reminder, and per the Terms of Service, members may answer the last questions asked by OP but please refrain from offering any medical advice. :)

[ocean waves]

Hello. Muchas gracias for the helpful specific information about early graft failure in CABG patients! Long ago I worked on a cardiac floor with many CABG patients, however I do not recall caring for any patients who had experienced early graft failure. Perhaps the reason some cardiac floor RN's are less familiar with early graft failure is because medical management is an out-patient basis involving repeat cardiac cath and placement of stent or angioplasty as needed. Thanks again! Best wishes!