Coronary artery bypass graft surgery

During coronary artery bypass surgery, the surgeon removes a piece of blood vessel from the leg, chest, arm, or belly. Then, the surgeon uses that piece of blood vessel (called a "graft") to reroute blood around the blocked artery. The surgery is called "bypass surgery" because it bypasses the blockage. Some people have more than 1 blocked artery bypassed. In this picture, the graft came from a vein in the leg called the "saphenous vein." But grafts can come from other places, too.