Triple Bypass Surgery: Understanding the Procedure, Causes & Recovery

A triple bypass surgery is when a surgeon replaces three clogged coronary arteries with either artificial or donated ones. Arteries are tubes in your body that carry oxygenated blood to your tissues. When your tissues can't get enough blood, they die, and your heart stops.

Causes

• The reason you would need to have a triple bypass surgery are your poor health habits, poor genetics or a combination of both. These problems will cause your arteries to become clogged with a fatty substance.

Benefits

• After you receive a triple bypass surgery, your blood will begin to flow to the heart again.

Features

• A triple bypass surgery can take up to 4 to 6 hours, and you will be under general anesthesia for the surgery.

Time Frame

• After your triple bypass surgery, you will be released from the hospital in 5 to 7 days (if surgery goes well). The recovery time at home is 2 to 4 weeks before returning to work, and it may 6 to 12 months before you feel 100 percent again.

History

• The first bypass surgery was performed on May 2, 1960, at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Bronx Municipal Center, by Dr. Robert Goetz, Dr. Michael Rohman, Dr. Jordan Haller and Dr. Ronald Dee.