Complications of quadruple bypass surgery

Quadruple Bypass Surgery

Quadruple bypass surgery is a procedure in which the blood flow is reestablished by redirecting it around the affected artery in the heart. Healthy blood vessels are harvested from somewhere else in the body in most cases from the leg and inserted in the arteries so the blocked part is bypassed and regular blood flow is established. Quadruple bypass surgery means that there are four blocked arteries in the heart which need to be bypassed.

Heart Problems

Quadruple bypass surgery is performed in case of severe pain in the chest which is caused by narrow artery in the heart. Narrow artery can prevent the heart to obtain enough blood. If the artery is blocked due to some disease it can obstruct the normal blood flow in the heart. The causes for these problems are heart diseases and conditions. Bypass surgery is performed in case of heart attack as an emergency measure. Heart problems include angina, coronary artery disease etc.

Complications

Every surgical procedure carries certain risk. These risks depend on the complexity of the surgery and your overall health condition. You may be at greater risk of complications if you have diabetes or problems with kidney function. Since quadruple bypass surgery is performed under a general anesthesia, you may experience some complications after the surgery. The complications related to general anesthesia may include headache, vision impairment, faintness, nausea, vomiting, pain in the muscles, loss of appetite and weight, pain in the stomach, urination problems and sleeping disorders.

Complications which are characteristic for any major surgical procedure involve infection of the wound, sepsis, blood clot and chronic pain of the wound. Proper care of the wound until it heals completely is very important in order to prevent such complications. Complications related to quadruple bypass surgery include internal bleeding, irregular heartbeat, heart failure, kidney failure and stroke. You may also develop acute memory loss or your thinking process may be impaired.

Outcome

You will need about five weeks to recover from quadruple bypass surgery. After this procedure you will feel much better because the blood flow has been restored. However, certain lifestyle changes may be necessary in order to maintain healthy heart. Your doctor may recommend a special rehabilitation program for patients who had any kind of bypass surgery. You must also stop smoking and eating greasy food. You should keep your weight normal do moderate exercises and eat healthy food. Regular checkups are also recommended.

The prognosis following heart bypass surgery is both good and has improved over the past three decades. In fact, the survival rate for bypass patients who make it through the first month after the operation is close to that of the population in general.

The basis for the study is all of the approx. 51,000 Danish patients who have undergone surgery in the period 1980 - 2009.
They have subsequently been correlated with a control group of 500,000 people of the same age and gender drawn at random from the general population.
The study shows that ten-year-survivors have an increased mortality when compared with the general population. This may be due to the fact that the disease is progressive and that the atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries increases, or that the implanted material begins to fail.

✓ Fact confirmed: Many good years after heart bypass surgery, but something happens after ten years Department of Clinical Epidemiology under the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University; June 7, 2017