CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT: Coronary Artery Bypass Graft or Bypass Surgery is a surgical procedure performed when the blood is unable to flow easily through the arteries of the heart. This surgery helps to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease.

In a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, arteries or veins from elsewhere in the patient's body are grafted to the coronary arteries to reroute, or "bypass," blood around clogged arteries to improve blood flow and oxygen to the heart.

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft is usually performed with the heart stopped. Surgeons use the assistance of the heart-lung machine along with medications to stop the heart so the bypass can be performed on a motionless field. The heart-lung machine is referred to as a "Pump" because it continues to mechanically pump oxygen and nutrients to the body during the surgery. A Coronary Artery Bypass Graft usually takes from three to five hours.

In some cases, the surgeon can perform this operation while your heart is still beating. This is called "off-pump" coronary bypass surgery.

OPEN HEART SURGERY : An Open Heart Surgery is a surgery in which the patient's chest is opened and surgery is performed on the heart. The term "open" refers to the chest, not to the heart itself. The heart may or may not be opened depending on the particular type of surgery.

In an Open Heart Surgery a heart-lung machine is used to support the patient’s circulation while the surgeon opens the chest and makes changes to the heart or the arteries on the surface of the heart. There are a variety of types of open-heart surgeries, depending on the condition being treated and the overall health of the patient.

An Open Heart Surgery usually takes about five hours.