Heart Bypass

[Buster275]

A  heart cath shows my heart has been damaged from an old heart attack(unknown to me). They want to do a  bypass, but cannot if too much damage has been done to my heart. They are now checking to see how much damage has been done. What percentage of your heart must be working for them to be able to do the bypass?

[analyizer]

my brother was told yesterday that his heart has been damaged from radiation treatment to the point that his only option to three blockages, one at the bifurcation of vessels supplying blood to each side of the heart, and one in each vassal immediately leaving the bifurcation which have stents narrowing. He was told his heart was stiff and it would be difficult to restart and that his heart was only performing at about 50 percent. He also said the chances of the incision healing was not good because of damage tissue from radiation treatment 15 and 20 years ago from lymphoma  cancer treatment. Can someone provide additional information concerning these issues and chances of success following surgery.

[ed34]

Oh, and forgot to add, this man was walking further than I could each day and I have no tissue death. Yes he walked slow and with a stick, but he even travelled by train to Germany to have stents put into one of his bypass conduits, something the UK had told him was impossible. This is what inspired me to find someone to open my LAD with stents. As soon as I started to mention I would look for a better expert in Europe, suddenly a cardiologist appeared in the UK willing to do the procedure. Maybe coincidence or maybe they thought hang on this could make bad media for us. Who knows.

[ed34]

There is a chance that the tissue is receiving the tiniest amounts of blood, not picked up by a cath. A persfusion scan will give more detail and there is still a posibility that the tissue damage partly or fully reversible. Only the scan can tell.
I remember watching a documentry about an ex army soldier in his 80's. His heart had lots of bypasses to try and keep his remaining tissue alive. His heart was working with just 30% of the tissue alive. Yes I did say 30% alive, not dead. I was amazed and blown away.

[Southern_woman]

Eds34 is right ,it will not help the part that has died.

[ed34]

The dead tissue will not regenerate, the triple bypass and stenting will be for the other vessels which are supplying the living tissue.

[Southern_woman]

HI, just wanted to tell you they can do a by pass  if some of the heart is dead,the
  Drs. said the back of my heart is dead, but  I have had a triple by-pass
and since then 5 stents,,3 just 3 weeks ago,so hang in there  they can dowonders
  today,

[Southern_woman]

HI, just wanted to tell you they can do a by pass  if some of the heart is dead,the
  Drs. said the back of my heart is dead, but  I have had a triple by-pass
and since then 5 stents,,3 just 3 weeks ago,so hang in there  they can dowonders
  today,

[Southern_woman]

HI, just wanted to tell you they can do a by pass  if some of the heart is dead,the
  Drs. said the back of my heart is dead, but  I have had a triple by-pass
and since then 5 stents,,3 just 3 weeks ago,so hang in there  they can dowonders
  today,

[Buster275]

You are right, they did the nuclear scan yesterday to see which tissue is using oxygen. and we will know in a few days if a bypass can be done

[ed34]

I'm not sure if they have explained it properly or if you misunderstood. Maybe my misunderstanding is wrong and someone else will jump in. I had a known blockage in my LAD and the level of disease down the vessel was severe. My cardiologist said "We need to establish if there is any tissue death on the left side because if it's dead, there's no point in treatment. If Heart tissue is dead, giving it oxygen is pointless because it will never use it anyway". Firstly I have no idea how they established tissue damage from an angio. Maybe they are 'assuming' this due to a blockage. You will require a nuclear scan that shows what tissue is using oxygen, and which tissue isnt. They will relate this to your angiogram and see if a bypass is worth it. In other words, if there is tissue which really needs the extra oxygen and is still alive.