Aortocoronary bypass surgery for ischemic heart disease: indications based on controlled trials.

One- and two-year results of aortocoronary bypass for ischemic heart disease indicate that in stable angina pectoris, at least, the operation can be beneficial, ie, superior to intensive medical therapy, in achieving certain objectives. The operation is clearly a technical success, and prospects for very long-range patency of the grafts appear to be good. An observation of great interest is symptomatic improvement in some patients with occluded grafts. The greatest success of aortocoronary bypass is improvement in quality of life for certain patients.