Bypass Surgery can be a Killer

Bypass Surgery can be a Killer!

The popular bypass surgery that has been used on millions of patients worldwide to fix a vein blockage leading to the heart and thus saving millions of lives can actually be an killer. The doctors have so far used endoscope to remove leg veins for heart bypass surgery appears to actually damage veins and make the patients 52% more likely to die within the next three years.

Endoscope is the latest technique that are used by doctors to remove the vien from the the leg with much less pain and scar. Endoscope is a technique in which the doctors use guided cameras into the body and with the help of it remove the vein causing much less scar compared to the traditional method known as the “open harvesting”.

About 70% of bypass patients now have the leg vein removed endoscopically, in part because it produces much less scarring and infection to the leg.

Now doctors have reported that this technique can actually damage the veins and might be responsible for future heart attacks to the patients. The study of 3000 patients found veins removed by the endoscope the technique was significantly more likely to become clogged within a year or so.

At the 12 to 18 month mark, 47% of the patients had at least one of their bypass grafts fail, versus 38% for whom the blood vessels were removed by the older method. Most patients had two or three grafts. The older method does seems to be safe statistically, but its purly dependant on the patient. I don’t think it is right to call the Endoscope Bypass surgery a killer. It is a life safer. It just helps the doctors extend the life of the patient. But untimatelly every one has to die. So extending the life involves risk but it has to be done or else the patient will die  sooner.