Assessing the risk of waiting for coronary artery bypass graft surgery among patients with stenosis of the left main coronary artery

561 consecutive patients with stenosis of the left main coronary artery (≥50% narrowing) scheduled to undergo CABG. 41.5% aged >70 years, 24.6% female. Excluded: patients admitted for repeat CABG and those not following the queuing system.

Assignment to a standardized triage system for CABG waiting queues based on clinical symptoms, stress test results, and cardiac anatomy ('emergent', 'in-hospital urgent', 'out-of-hospital semi-urgent A', and 'out-of-hospital semi-urgent B').

In-hospital death from any cause and a composite outcome measure of in-hospital death from any cause, a prolonged requirement for postoperative mechanical ventilation (> 24 h), and a prolonged postoperative hospital stay (> 9 d).composite