I have my LAD artery of the heart totally occluded. I have collaterals. Can I go for by-pass of not.?

Question

My LC artery and RC artery have also tight stenosis.

Answer 1

Three major arteries sounds like a by-pass to me. The fact you have collaterals means it is a chronically occluded vessel and you may have grown your own by-pass. Perhaps the other two arteries can be addressed with angioplasty/stents and you don't need an open heart surgery. Other issues like your kidney function are also major considerations in deciding on preceding forward with surgery.

By-pass surgery is a big deal. If you can avoid it (despite the fact that it is a good procedure) then I would at all costs. Cardiothoracic surgeons plan for it to take the patient a year to recover completely from the surgery. Take my word for it that for most, the first month is not very pleasant.

Farm Girl is correct about the efficacy of the drug-eluding stents that have been around since 2003. Interventional cardiologists are putting themselves out of business because these stents are staying open - we suspect indefinitely.

Good luck.

Answer 2

If you have adequate collateral circulation, then you would probably want to delay or avoid bypass. You should probably be more concerned about your LC and RC at this point. The new medicated stents have been so successful that the cardiovascular surgeons (who provide bypass surgeries) are actually going bankrupt. The interventional cardiologists (who do the stents) are the new kings of the hill. If I had your problem, I would go for stenting first if I had a choice.

As an aside, when Dr.s tell you to "stop smoking, lose weight, and exercise," they don't seem to emphasize it. That's because it's extremely rare for anybody to actually follow their recommendations. However, the people who do follow those recommendations often see absolutely miraculous results. I had a discussion with a cardiologist at work one day, and he said he's seen patients who actually appeared to have reversed their heart disease, though that's said to be impossible.

Answer 3

Based solely on the information above, yes, you can and should have bypass surgery. Did you just have a cardiac catheterization recently?
Is this what your cardiologist is recommending?
There may other reasons why you cannot have bypass surgery, though. It's hard to answer this question without more information on your history, present health, other diagnostic results, etc....
Talk more with your doctor.
Good Luck :>)

Answer 4

The left anterior descending is about the most important artery in theheart. I would get it taken care of fast.

Answer 5

not yet.
it will depends on your symptomes rather than the # of the occluded ateries.