Coronary artery bypass graft

[jadecoral]

Hello:

I am interested in becoming a medical records coder and I am studying about cardiac procedures.

I came across the following procedure: left internal mammary graft to the circumflex coronary artery and sequentially to the right coronary artery.

Would anyone know how an artery is grafted sequentially? Thank you.

[dianah, ASN]

The left internal mammary artery (LIMA) is disconnected from the chest wall distally.

It is not disconnected from the left subclavian artery, from which it descends.

The middle area of it is attached to the circumflex coronary artery (in your example) and then the distal end is anastomosed (attached) to the right coronary artery.

Purpose is to supply blood to two needy areas (two separate vessels) with the one graft.

Hope this helps.

You might try a google search using "images" for a sketch of how it's done.

One picture is worth a thousand words. :)

Good luck with your program!