What is a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) commonly known as?

A Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) is commonly known as open heart surgery because it involves significant surgical intervention where the chest is opened to access the heart. During the procedure, surgeons create a bypass around blocked coronary arteries using grafts, which can be segments of veins or arteries from the patient’s own body or from a donor.

The terminology "open heart surgery" highlights that the surgery takes place in a direct and invasive manner, allowing physicians to adequately visualize and operate on the heart itself. This term is used specifically because it often requires the heart to be temporarily stopped and sometimes necessitates the use of a heart-lung machine to maintain circulation and blood flow during the operation.

While other procedures such as heart valve replacements and minimally invasive cardiac surgeries do involve the heart, they differ significantly in technique and scope. Coronary stenting, on the other hand, is a less invasive intervention typically performed through catheterization and is not classified as surgery in the same sense as CABG. Thus, calling CABG "open heart surgery" accurately captures the nature of the procedure.