Abstract

A consecutive series of 2,628 patients subjected to isolated coronary artery bypass have had follow-up for a total of 13,915.5 patient-years. The number of patients surviving without angina decreased from 81% at one year to 36.9% at nine years after operation. Nonfatal myocardial infarction occurred at a rate of 3.1% per year, and the incidence of repeat coronary artery bypass was approximately 1% per year. The ratio of the five-year actuarial survival to that expected for a normal population, matched by age and sex, was 1.03 for single vessel disease, 1.00 for double vessel disease, and 1.00 for triple vessel disease. The survival ratio at ten years postoperatively was 1.13, 0.99, and 0.85 for single, double, and triple vessel disease, respectively. Cardiac causes accounted for 44.4%, 68.9%, and 65.7% of deaths in patients with single, double, and triple vessel disease, respectively.