Heart Bypass Surgery
The most commonly performed major surgery in North America, heart bypass or coronary bypass surgery takes a piece of vein from the leg or chest and uses it to replace part of a heart artery that has been blocked or narrowed. The surgeon may need to perform a single, double, triple, quadruple or quintuple bypass. This simply refers to the number of coronary arteries bypassed (partly replaced) during the surgery. Note that having a greater number of bypasses does not imply a person is more sick, nor does a lesser number mean the person is more healthy.