Indications for Aortocoronary Bypass Graft Surgery, 1979

THE COUNCIL on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association requested a panel of consultants to review the current indications for aortocoronary bypass graft (ACBG) surgery. The consultants considered the place of the operation in coronary artery disease (CAD) but did not consider all of the possible applications of the operation in combinations of CAD with other forms of heart disease. They recognized that the decision to operate in the individual patient rests on his physician's clinical judgment based on intimate knowledge of all of his individual qualities and of the pertinent literature and results of careful laboratory studies, as well as the availability of a surgical team of proved capability in ACBG surgery. Nevertheless, it was deemed advisable to review the present indications for the procedure as of January 1979 and some of the relevant background information. RELIEF OF ANGINA PECTORIS It is generally agreed that this operation initially