Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG)

When your heart is working the way it’s supposed to, blood flows continuously throughout your body. It flows from your heart out to your body and back again through a path of tiny flexible tubes called blood vessels.

But sometimes blood vessels become blocked. Or they become too narrow, and blood can’t flow the way it’s supposed to. Heart surgery can help correct these things.

One type of heart surgery, called a coronary artery bypass graft, or “cabbage” surgery, improves blood flow to your heart by making new pathways around the blocked ones when the blockages can’t be removed.

In a CABG surgery, the doctor will take blood vessels from other parts of your body to make new pathways to your heart.

It usually takes six to 12 weeks to recover from a heart surgery, but when you do, the symptoms you were having before surgery should be much better.