Video narration
How does bypass surgery create a detour around a blocked heart artery? Think of a road closed by a bridge: instead of removing the obstruction, traffic takes a new route. In the heart, a narrowed artery limits blood reaching the muscle. First, surgeons select a healthy vessel-often from the chest, arm, or leg-to become a graft, the new route. Once the patient is under anesthesia, surgeons reach the heart. Depending on the case, they use a heart-lung machine or operate while the heart beats. Then they attach the graft before the blockage and beyond it. Blood can now travel around the narrowed section to the heart muscle. Finally, the opening is closed, and recovery begins. That is the answer: bypass surgery does not clear the original blockage; it creates a new route around it and restores blood flow to the heart.