Improved long-term survival after aortocoronary bypass for advanced coronary artery disease.

Three hundred thirty patients undergoing coronary bypass grafts for disabling angina, "preinfarction" angina, or coronary occlusion without cardiogenic shock have undergone coronary revascularization from July 1970 to March 1974. The operative mortality was 1.2 per cent and the long-term mortality, 4 per cent. Patients were subjected to life table analysis, and the figures suggest that in patients with two- and three-vessel coronary artery disease who received complete revascularization, there was a significant prolongation of life when compared with data from a large series of medically treated patients with angiographically documented coronary artery disease. Longer follow-up data will be important in definitively ascertaining the favorable effect of coronary revascularization on longevity.