Does emergency aortocoronary bypass improve outcomes in patients with preinfarction angina or impending extension of recent myocardial infarction?
Emergency aortocoronary bypass may be beneficial for preinfarction angina but carries a prohibitively high mortality risk in patients with impending extension of a recent myocardial infarction.
Emergency coronary arteriography and aortocoronary bypass were successfully performed in three patients with preinfarction angina. Four patients with impending extension of a recent infarction died during or after aortocoronary bypass surgery. Aortocoronary bypass may improve angina and prevent infarction in selected instances of preinfarction angina. In patients with recent infarction and impending extension the risk of surgery appears to be prohibitively high.
Hill et al. (Sat,) studied this question.