Coronary artery bypass surgery at the University of the Orange Free State Medical School.

Fifty patients underwent aortocoronary bypass grafting, and 48 of these survived and are alive at present. Seventy-four per cent of these patients were relieved of angina, 16% were improved, and 10% remained the same, and 72% of these patients have resumed their normal daily work. The morbidity of the operation was negligible. The problems that emerged in this small series were involvement of the perforator artery, sudden occlusion of a major vessel during coronary angiography, preservation of the myocardium during surgery for multiplevessel disease, and lastly the question of when a ventricle is too damaged to be operated on. These problems are discussed and suggestions are made as to how to handle them. On the whole, we see this procedure as a useful adjunct in the treatment of occlusive coronary artery disease.