Bypass Surgery can Increase Stroke Risk

A study in the July 17, 2001 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association finds that patients who have heart bypass surgery soon after having a heart attack or an episode of severe chest pain may have an increased chance of having a stroke in the following months. More than 18,000 patients who had heart-related chest pain called unstable angina or a less severe form of heart attack called a non-Q-wave heart attack were studied. Patients who had heart bypass surgery within 2 weeks of either of these episodes occurring were, on average, four times as likely to have a stroke as patients who did not have bypass surgery at all. The risk was even higher in elderly patients and those with a past history of stroke, diabetes and high heart rates.