The narrowing of the vessels feeding the heart disrupts the blood flow to the heart, causing complaints such as chest pain, pressure in the chest, and congestion, as well as more serious dangers such as heart attack and sudden cardiac death. A number of methods have been developed and continue to be developed to ensure adequate blood flow to the heart. One of these methods is bypass surgery. In this surgery, veins taken from the leg or an artery in the chest wall are used to ensure more blood flow to the area fed by the heart vessel causing the stenosis. If this surgery is performed successfully, it largely eliminates the patient's complaints (primarily chest pain and congestion). Opening the heart vessels with a balloon and placing small metal structures called stents in the opened area is also a procedure performed for the same purpose. Bypass surgery is a major surgical procedure that takes 3-4 hours and requires intensive care and hospitalization for a few days. The balloon and stent procedure is a simpler procedure that does not require anesthesia, takes 20-30 minutes and does not require hospitalization for more than a day. However, most of the time the two processes are not alternatives to each other. While the balloon-stent procedure is preferred in technically suitable patients, bypass surgery may be required in patients who are not technically suitable for the balloon-stent procedure or have some accompanying problems. In some groups of patients, both procedures are among the options that can be applied to the patient. While some physicians recommend bypass surgery to patients in this situation, some physicians recommend balloon-stent procedure. This situation does not arise from physicians' inability to decide which procedure to perform. The reason for this situation is that physicians prefer a method according to their own perspective, as both procedures have their own advantages and disadvantages. In such cases, patients should get advice from several physicians and choose the treatment that best suits their conditions.
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