Largest Greek study on coronary artery bypass procedures published, based on HYGEIA Hospital data

24 October 2022

The largest study on coronary artery bypass procedures to date in Greece, and one of the largest globally, has been concluded by leading Greek doctors, who used data going back 23 years, courtesy of HYGEIA Hospital.

The publication of this study ranks HYGEIA among the top Greek hospitals performing coronary artery bypass procedures and confirms its long tradition and expertise in heart conditions. HYGEIA paves the way both on a clinical and a research level, with dozens of groundbreaking procedures, some of which are unique in Greece.

The study on “Changes in the Risk Profile and Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: A 23-Year Analysis of Over 14000 Patients” was recently presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona. It included 14,235 coronary artery bypass procedures performed on adult patients at HYGEIA from 1997 to 2019, by all the HYGEIA cardiac surgery teams. The data was drawn from the database managed by the HYGEIA Cardiac Surgery ICU, which has been created by Dr. Charalampos Paskalis, Intensivist and HYGEIA ICU Director.

The study authors were Dr. Gregory Pattakos, cardiac surgeon, Associate Director of the Second Cardiac Surgery Clinic and Associate Director of the Transcatheter Heart Valve Department, Dr. Stavros Siminelakis, Professor of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital of Ioannina, Dr. Efstratios Apostolakis, Professor of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital of Ioannina, Dr. Charalampos Paskalis, and Dr. Ioannis Goudevenos, Professor of Cardiology, University Hospital of Ioannina. As part of their research, they analyzed many parameters, such as the clinical profile of patients, their comorbidities, as well as the short-term complications of these procedures and how they change over time.

The researchers concluded that, as time goes by, all the more patients undergo coronary artery bypass surgery at older ages, with increasing comorbidities, with the most common being hypertension. Meanwhile, perioperative morbidity has not changed over the years, despite the deteriorating clinical profile of patients and the increasing comorbidities, a fact that is due to the increasing use of arterial grafts (internal mammary arteries and radial arteries).

In the over 50 years it has been operating, HYGEIA has been responding to the major challenges using its expertise and up-to-date know-how, offering well-rounded treatment of cardiovascular conditions, with the largest team of cardiac surgeons in the private sector and four fully equipped Clinics. It is also a pioneer, establishing the Heart Team, the most comprehensive cardiac team, encompassing multiple specialties and resolving complex cardiology procedures in high-risk patients.