Hello,
My husband (46 yrs old) underwent bypass (single) of the left main coronary artery 89 days ago. He had no prior OR family history of heart problems. He does NOT have high blood pressure, high cholestorol and is not overweight. He was, however, a heavy smoker.
Four weeks post surgery, he was like an 18 year old kid again. His only meds were aspirin and simvistatin and he was told by 3 doctors to do whatever he wanted to do. By six weeks he was mowing and gardening, riding motorcyles, four-wheeling, etc.
From day one post-surgery, he had constant nagging pain in the wall of his chest. We were told this was because the mammary artery was used for the graft. On or about the 81st day post surgery, his heart pain (angina) returned VERY suddenly and severely. We took him for a stress test and they decided not to perform it. Instead he underwent an angiogram. He was found to be UNbypassed in the left main due to a "kink" in the graft.
I asked the cardiologist over and over what that means and he seems reluctant to talk about it. He just keeps saying: "it's a technical problem with the surgery" and literally refuses to discuss it any further. I asked him if my husband did something wrong to cause it and he says that's not possible. I asked if the surgeon messed up somehow and he repeated the sentence in quotes above. I asked when it happened and he said it was probably like that from day one.
How do "kinks" in a bypass graft happen?