Outcomes Following Myocardial Revascularization: On and Off Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Ischemic heart disease is one of the most frequent diagnoses in the VA system. Moreover, 5,819 coronary artery bypass graft (CABG-only) procedures were performed in the VA in Fiscal Year (FY) 1999. Throughout VA and non-VA cardiac surgery programs nationwide, myocardial revascularization is now being performed using two surgical techniques. One technique is performed with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) usually with cardioplegic arrest ("on-pump") and the other without CPB on a beating heart ("off-pump"). The overall purpose of this proposed randomized, controlled, clinical trial is to rigorously evaluate the impact of using an on-pump versus off-pump surgical technique for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG-only) procedures (performed with a traditional median sternotomy incision) upon patient clinical outcomes and resource utilization.