Coronary artery surgery results 2002 in Japan

Over the past 30 years, we have reported on status and outcome of coronary artery bypass surgery in Japan. This report is focused on surgery performed last year, from January 1 to December 31, 2002. A total of 13,474 cases underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) of these, 12,552 underwent CABG only. The operative mortality for patients who underwent CABG only was 2.04% in 2002. Mortality for initial elective CABG was 1.02%. These are the best results obtained since surveys were started. The percentage of elderly patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery is rising annually. In 2002, 44.4% of patients were aged 70 years or older and 6.9% were aged 80 years or older. Mortality in elderly patients undergoing initial elective surgery is decreasing, with a mortality of 1.3% for patients aged 70 years or older and 2.0% for patients aged 80 years or older. Since 1996, the number of off-pump CABG (OPCAB) cases remarkably increased annually. This less-invasive procedure was performed on 5,628 patients in 2002, which is 41.8% of the total number of CABG cases.