Depression and Coronary artery Bypass graft

Editorial Team / Admin · Nov 15, 2015

What does cardiac surgery entail? How can it affect a patient's normal life and what changes do they have to make? How can that affect a patient's mental outlook?

We do ask that when asking for assistance with a question that you give us your thoughts so that we can guide you in the right direction and help you understand what you aren't understanding quite yet.

roser13, ASN, RN · Nov 16, 2015

Good morning!
Quick question. Why is there depression, anxiety and decrease mental functions after Coronary artery bypass graft or any other major heart surgeries?
Thank you for giving light on this.
-Dhee

Oh, but it's neither a "quick" answer, nor is it meant to be. This is a question that YOU are expected to give time, thought & effort to. Not us. We've already done that.

Spend some time, do some research & spend some time in reflection. Come back to us if you find anything confusing in your research. I guarantee that you will absorb some important knowledge by approaching your homework in that manner.

Libby1987 · Nov 16, 2015

This question is very relevant to real life adult med and I agree with roser13 for you to be mindful in your research.

MunoRN, RN · Nov 16, 2015

Considering the OP has been a member for 7 years I sort of doubt they are a student.

It's actually a very reasonable question and there's no worry of giving away the answers because there aren't any.

Post-bypass delirium, confusion, etc has been well proven to exist at rates significantly higher than in other surgeries with comparable anesthesia times, so it's clear there is something about coronary bypass surgery and possibly valve replacement surgery as well that causes an unexplained increase in these symptoms specific to these surgeries. The informal name for this is "pump head", the official name had been "post perfusion syndrome" since it was assumed this was due to being on the bypass machine, but as off-pump bypass has become more common, the rate of "pump-head" in these patients isn't significantly different to those done on-pump. It also used to be thought that pump-head resulted in some sort of long-term cognitive impairment although it doesn't appear there is any increase in long-term cognitive impairment in those having bypass surgery compared to those with comparable atherosclerosis who don't get bypass surgery.

Depression and emotional lability is also something that we know happens after coronary bypass surgery, but again we don't really know why, it's thought it's related to altered hormone and endorphin production following the surgery. Anxiety is likely rooted in both delirium as well as emotional lability.

roser13, ASN, RN · Nov 16, 2015

Considering the OP has been a member for 7 years I sort of doubt they are a student.

Oh, but he is a student, studying to practice in the US. It's an informal policy here to encourage students to express their own ideas here for others to comment on rather than flat-out ask us to do their homework.

elkpark · Nov 16, 2015

Considering the OP has been a member for 7 years I sort of doubt they are a student.

I dunno; look at how many people post that they are joining because they think they might want to go to nursing school at some point in the future ...