Coronary artery surgery results 2005 in Japan.

This report is focused on the status and outcome of coronary artery surgery performed in Japan, from January 1 to December 31, 2005. A total of 12,207 cases underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), as an isolated or concomitant procedure. Isolated CABG was performed in 9,827 patients. The operative mortality for patients who underwent isolated CABG was 1.91% in 2005. The mortality for initial elective CABG was 0.89%. These are the most improved results obtained since annual surveys started over 30 years ago. Since 1996 the number of off-pump CABG (OPCAB) cases increased year after year. This less-invasive procedure was performed on 4,936 patients in 2005, which is 61.0% the of total number of CABG cases. Mortality improved after complete OPCAB to 0.60%, which is the lowest rate since this procedure has been introduced. More than half (50.6%) of 4 and/or more grafting patients underwent OPCAB, which is higher rate than that (49.7%) in 2004. The percentage of elderly patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery is rising every year. In 2005, 46.5% of patients were aged 70 years or older and 7.8% were aged 80 years or older. The utilization rate of arterial grafts was 70%.