Topic: Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) continues to evolve, with improved outcomes, alternative conduits, and innovative techniques. Mortality for isolated elective CABG is on the decline, prompting a focus shift toward less invasive procedures without compromising safety, completeness of revascularization, and graft patency. Procedural advances such as multiple arterial grafting, anaortic CABG, hybrid revascularization, endoscopic, and robotic multivessel revascularization are gaining traction as strategies to further improve outcomes and minimize invasiveness. Concomitant improvements in preoperative optimization, use of extended reality for preoperative planning, intraoperative graft flow assessment, and postoperative secondary preventive measures including individualized antiplatelet therapy are universally acknowledged as interventions that can significantly influence short- and long-term outcomes. Additionally, the training of the next generation of coronary surgeons and acknowledgment of surgical myocardial revascularization as a subspecialty remain pivotal for future-proofing CABG. Last but not least, the impending influence of artificial intelligence on various aspects of CABG will be a game changer in the near future.

This Special Issue of Vessel Plus is dedicated to providing a comprehensive insight into established and emerging surgical strategies for CABG, interventions influencing short- and long-term outcomes of CABG, and issues crucial for future-proofing CABG. International experts and opinion leaders, with extensive experience in performing CABG using innovative techniques yielding excellent outcomes, have provided thorough reviews of the art and science of CABG. It is expected that this Special Issue will help readers understand not only the current status of CABG but also future perspectives.

Sub-topics:
● Global landscape of coronary artery bypass grafting;
● SWOT analysis of coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Preoperative optimization for coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Anaortic coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Barriers to universal adoption of multiple arterial grafting;
● Minimal access multivessel coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Robotic coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Hybrid coronary revascularization;
● Intraoperative graft flow assessment;
● Antiplatelet therapy after coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Training in coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Quality assurance in coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Extended, virtual, and augmented reality in coronary artery bypass grafting;
● Artificial intelligence and coronary artery bypass grafting.

20 Jan 2025