What are the risks of this type of surgery?

As with other types of surgery, there are certain risks that you should know about, but these risks vary depending on your specific health problems and needs. Your consultant and team will be happy to discuss the risks with you.

Complications from the surgery may include:

• Difficulty breathing
• Excessive bleeding
• Infection
• High blood pressure
• Irregular heart rhythm
• Fluid retention and swelling; and 
• Blood clots.

Most complications are short term and are not serious.
Other more serious risks may arise. These include the risk of stroke, kidney failure and heart attack during surgery.

Please remember that your surgeon will only recommend bypass surgery if they believe that other treatment options could not achieve the goal of keeping you healthy.