[Current status of coronary artery bypass grafting]

The number of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has reached more than 21,000 cases per year in Japan, and the operative mortality has decreased less than 1% including emergent operation. There are 2 trends in CABG. One is the revival and wide spread of off-pump CABG (OPCAB). The other is multiple arterial coronary revascularization. In 2004 and 2005, 60% of all CABG procedures in Japan were performed without cardiopulmonary bypass. For competition with percutaneous coronary intervention with drug eluting stents and better long-term outcomes, CABG with only arterial grafts was carried out in 52% of total cases and 66% of OPCAB cases. OPCAB with multiple arterial grafts has been becoming the standard CABG in Japan. We reviewed OPCAB and arterial CABG including new technology.