Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting - After Surgery - After Surgery

You will stay in the hospital for about one week. You may stay longer if you had other procedures done as well or if you have a complication. You will stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) for a day or two, where medical staff may do the following:

• Apply bandages on your chest and wherever the graft was removed.
• Attach tubes to drain fluid from your chest and urine from your bladder.
• Connect you to an electrocardiogram (ECG) to monitor your heart rhythm.
• Implant a temporary pacemaker, and, in some cases, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), while you are recovering in the ICU.
• Give you compression stockings to wear on your legs to help maintain proper blood flow and avoid venous thromboembolism.
• Give you medicines. Some medicines you may take for only a short time, while others you may need to keep taking. These medicines may help with pain during recovery, prevent blood clots or irregular heart rhythms, control cholesterol and fats in the blood, and lower your risk of complications.
• Give you oxygen therapy, which delivers oxygen into your nose through nasal prongs or a mask.
• Monitor your vital signs, such as your heart rate, blood pressure , and oxygen levels.

After you leave the hospital, you will need to continue taking medicines. Some common side effects from surgery, which should go away in four to six weeks, include the following:

• Chest pain around the site of the surgical cut
• Constipation
• Discomfort or itching from healing cuts
• Fatigue, mood swings, or depression
• Muscle pain or tightness in the shoulders and upper back
• Problems sleeping or loss of appetite
• Swelling of the area where an artery or vein was removed for grafting

After you leave the hospital, you will need about six to 12 weeks to recover completely. People who undergo minimally invasive CABG need less time to recover than for traditional CABG.

All surgeries have risks. The risk is generally higher for certain people, such as those who get CABG in an emergency situation, have plaque in other arteries throughout the body, or have other medical conditions, such as major heart failure, or lung or kidney disease. Potentially serious complications may include:

• Arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat. The most common type is called atrial fibrillation, which may occur after the surgery but usually goes away on its own.
• Bleeding, which may require more surgery to control it
• Confusion or problems thinking clearly, temporary memory loss, vision problems, and slurred speech can occur for a short time right after surgery. This is also known as postoperative cognitive decline (POCD). Delirium, or intense confusion, is rare. The exact cause of POCD is not known. Many factors, including the health of the patient before surgery, likely play a role.
• Heart attack
• Infection, which can occur where the surgical cut was made or inside the chest where the surgery was performed. This may require additional surgeries.
• Kidney failure
• Stroke

• Life After will discuss the lifestyle changes, medicines, and possible long-term complications that may be part of life after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
• Research for Your Health will explain how we are using current research and advancing research to improve coronary artery bypass grafting.
• Participate in NHLBI Clinical Trials will discuss our open and enrolling clinical studies that are investigating the best use of coronary artery bypass grafting.