First human coronary bypass surgery performed without chest cracking

For the first time ever in a human, doctors have performed coronary artery bypass grafting without having to cut through the patient’s chest, similar to how many aortic valve replacement procedures are now done.

The CABG procedure re-routes blood around a blockage in an artery carrying blood to the heart. In this case, the surgical tools were inserted and threaded through a blood vessel in the patient’s leg, according to a report published in Circulation Cardiovascular Interventions.