The difference in bypass surgery in men and women

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Summary

* Bypass surgery is a procedure that uses a healthy vessel to create a detour for blood to flow around an artery that is blocked by fatty plaque buildup

* Bypass surgery is a relatively safe procedure in women; serious complications are rare but may include heart attack, stroke, or death

* Women are slightly more likely to die in the hospital after bypass surgery than men largely because women are older and in worse health by the time they undergo surgery

* In the long-term, women and men do equally well after bypass surgery

* In patients younger than 50 who have bypass surgery, women have worse outcomes than men

* After surgery, women usually stay in the hospital longer than men, and need more blood transfusions; they also have a more difficult emotional and physical recovery

* Neurological complications after surgery including stroke and memory problems are more common in women than in men

* Emergency bypass surgery (such as during a heart attack, or if an angioplasty procedure goes wrong) is a riskier procedure than planned bypass

* Women are more likely than men to have emergency bypass surgery

* Bypass is preferred to medication alone for most patients except low-risk patients with mild heart disease, or those for whom surgery or angioplasty is too risky

* Both bypass surgery and angioplasty with stenting are good treatment options for many patients; you will recover more quickly from angioplasty, but you are more likely to require repeat procedures