abdominal arterial bypass surgery

[Countrymama]

my aunt recently had a procedure called abdominal arterial bypass surgery. she lives far away, so all the info i get is thru my mom on the phone.
my aunt was saying that it was her heart, because of the word 'artery', but that just didn't make sense to me, and from what i'm reading it's the abdominal aorta, which still carries blood to the lower extremeties, but doesn't seem to be as critical as the actual heart.
her scar looks like a rainbow, with the arch at the top of her belly, where her diaphragm is (which also corresponds with what i have read)
well, the procedure didn't work, and the artery has collapsed again. the doctor that did the procedure said he can't do anything else. she went to a different doctor that rushed her to a hospital right away and said it was life threatening, only to have ANOTHER doctor tell her it's not THAT big a deal, and he'll review her scans and get back to her.
i was also told that the problem is more common in men than women, and that a coworker of hers died from complications of the same diagnosis because the doctors didn't see it.
i have so many conflicting opinions coming at me.
can anyone shed a little light on the subject for me?
thank you so much!