The result? Coronary artery disease.ДЄs CAD progresses, plaque continues to accumulate. As it builds up, blood canвЂ™t flow as easily as it once did. So, it's like this: When the inside of your arteries get roughed up, it's easier for the plaque-forming compounds to gain a foothold. High blood sugar, which can increase inflammation in the arteries Unhealthy levels of LDL, or вЂbadвЂ™, cholesterol, which sticks to the walls of your arteries, causing irritation High blood pressure (HBP), which stresses the vesselsД¬igarette smoke, which is loaded with harmful chemicals Plaque is a mixture of cholesterol, fat, calcium, and fibrin (a substance that helps your blood to clot), and it tends to collect within the arteries where damage has occurred.Д«ut what damages arteries in the first place? That mouthful of a name describes a process in which plaque builds up over time on the walls of one or more of your heartвЂ™s arteries. The culprit behind CAD is nearly always atherosclerosis.

WhatвЂ™s more, your heart has its own network of arteries to support this critical work. Your entire blood supply-more than a gallon of the life-sustaining stuff-cycles throughout your body roughly every 30 seconds. Then it's back over to the heart to do the whole thing again. The heart pumps it over to the lungs, where it unloads carbon dioxide and stocks up on a fresh supply of oxygen. Once there, it enters the pulmonary circulatory system. Your arteries deliver oxygen-rich blood from your heart to every cell in the rest of your body.ДЄlong the way, the blood transfers nutrients and picks up waste products from cells via tiny capillaries, and then it heads back to heart by way of the veins. Along with your veins and capillaries, they comprise a 60,000-mile-long system of blood vessels. (And you probably donвЂ™t need a website to tell you thatвЂ™s not good.)Д«efore we get into the nitty-gritty of what causes all those problems, letвЂ™s do a quick review of how the circulatory system works: This damage, which happens in a number of ways weвЂ™ll soon explain, causes your arteries to dangerously narrow, which can then cause blockages that prevent blood and oxygen from reaching your heart and the rest of your body. In some cases, stents and balloons are used together in a procedure called stent and balloon therapy.What Is Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), Exactly?Д¬oronary artery disease develops when your heartвЂ™s all-important arteries become damaged. MICS CABG вЂ“ The beating heart procedure described above can be performed through a small rib incision rather than through a median sternotomy.Like in an angioplasty procedure, a stent mounted onto a tiny balloon is opened inside of an artery to push back plaque and to restore blood flow. A stent is a tiny, expandable, mesh-like tube made of a metal such as stainless steel or cobalt alloy. Stenting вЂ“ Stenting uses a device called a stent to restore blood flow in the coronary artery.Coronary balloon angioplasty вЂ“ Coronary balloon angioplasty, also referred to as percutaneous (through the skin) coronary intervention (PCI), uses a tiny balloon to widen the inside channel of the artery and enable blood to flow at a normal or near-normal rate.Three minimally invasive treatments for coronary artery disease (CAD) are coronary balloon angioplasty, stenting, and minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS) CABG. This is called arrested heart surgery or conventional bypass surgery.ДЇor some patients, minimally invasive coronary artery surgery is an alternative to the CABG surgery. Arrested heart surgery вЂ“ Most CABG surgeries are done through an incision in the chest while the heart is stopped and a heart-lung machine takes over the job of circulating the blood.

Beating heart surgery is appropriate for certain patients. This often requires special equipment that allows the surgeon to operate on the heart while it is moving. Beating heart surgery вЂ“ Also known as off-pump surgery, beating heart surgery is done while the heart is beating.Two bypass surgical procedures for coronary artery disease are: (1) beating heart surgery and (2) arrested heart surgery. Patients undergoing bypass are put under general anesthetic and are not awake during surgery. This creates a new path for blood to flow around (bypass) the blockage in the artery so it can get to your heart. The vessel is then connected (grafted) to your coronary artery slightly past the site of the blockage. A surgeon takes a section of a healthy blood vessel from your leg, chest, or arm. Coronary artery bypass grafting, or 'CABG' (pronounced 'cabbage'), is a common heart procedure.

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