Regular readers of Cardiovascular Business are likely aware that coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is common for patients with heart disease and has become a relatively safe operation as practitioners have refined their skills.

In that sense, a Feb. 25 Washington Post article isn’t all that enlightening, but it does provide a succinct, intriguing rundown of the procedure’s history.

As The Post points out, CABG was first described in 1910 by French surgeon Alexis Carrel, who unsuccessfully attempted the procedure on a dog. After more experimental surgeries in canines, Robert Goetz performed the first successful bypass surgery on a human in 1960.

It took until the 1970s for the procedures to become common, and survival rates have improved as operators have gained more experience. More than 9 percent of the first 150 patients to receive the treatment in one hospital died before being discharged, and today in-hospital mortality rates are between 1 and 3 percent, according to the newspaper.

“It has evolved and improved every decade,” Timothy Gardner, MD, past president of the American Heart Association, told The Post. “A well-done operation—especially for a patient on the younger side of the spectrum—is really the most effective and reliable treatment for coronary disease.”

However, CABG rates have declined from their peak in the U.S., partially due to the popularity of stenting through percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which was introduced in 1977.

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