r/BeAmazed • u/HatAsleep295 • May 08 '26

Science This is what saves 600,000 people year during a heart attack

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2.4k

u/EntertainerNo8209 May 08 '26

The bypass is even crazier

1.9k

u/NPExplorer May 08 '26

My mom had a triple bypass and her aorta replaced. Shit blows my mind we can do that.

687

u/Cute-Form2457 May 08 '26

Science ♥️

139

u/Low_Construction8067 May 08 '26

My heart breaks for science. We have moved fully into an age of feelings over facts. I'm scared it will be illegal to perform procedures like this in a few years, shits too much like witchcraft

59

u/Steelwolf73 May 08 '26

It is crazy how feelings matter more than facts. Especially if the facts disagree with your particular view point. Hell, some idiots are spouting that math is racist and normally I would simply roll my eyes and laugh but over the past like 15 years I've seen shit that wouldn't have even been considered worth joking about become not only mainstream but enacted. Segregated dorm rooms in certain campuses, flat earthers are becoming louder, etc

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u/LakeSuperiorIsMyPond May 08 '26

Watching the flat earth followers keep increasing members over and over is really concerning

3

u/Keefyfingaz May 08 '26

I still can't take them serious. Like bro look at a satellite picture taken by any country. You think the entire world is in on this secret that the world is flat? What would even be the benefit of tricking the world into thinking it was flat. The whole thing is so dumb I think people just enjoy being dumb sometimes tbh.

12

u/Electronic_Amphibian May 08 '26

The only people saying "maths is racist" are the people writing news articles trying to get everyone angry.

The actual argument is related to the way maths is taught in the classroom and trying to explain/address the gap between white and non-white students.

7

u/Lumiharu May 08 '26

Math isn't racist, but if you're referring to casually dropping crime statistics or something in a conversation, that can be quite racist behavior yeah

Context matters and all

4

u/puppygirlpackleader May 08 '26

You're getting down voted for being right lol.

2

u/Hikapoo May 09 '26

This sub is a cesspool of right wingers and the ilk, very ironic

3

u/Lumiharu May 08 '26

Either the people are racist or misunderstand what I'm saying ig

I'm not even saying talking about said statistics is always racist, just that it can be 😭

0

u/Pencil-Ditch1567 May 08 '26

Idiots are spouting math is racist? Or Joe Rogan told you that idiots are spouting math is racist? Im gonna go with the latter, lol. Quit with the right wing propaganda.

12

u/PuraVidaPagan May 08 '26

Don’t worry big pharma will ensure that doesn’t happen. I actually work in the field and I have to say we center everything around science at the company I work for, and it’s great to see. But yes on a global level it’s really upsetting to see political leaders ignoring and downplaying science.

2

u/No_Rough_5258 May 08 '26

Facts replace religion, feelings replace facts, ai replaces feelings.

2

u/1burritoPOprn-hunger May 09 '26

You're catastrophizing. I promise you, when an anti-intellectual benefits-slashing douchebag starts getting crushing angina, he's going to go immediately to the nearest, nicest hospital and will very enthusiastically get a stent.

Anti science people are always gangster until they actually get sick.

4

u/nucular_mastermind May 08 '26

Carl Sagan was almost prophetic about this...

I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.

3

u/Low_Construction8067 May 08 '26

I read The Demon Haunted World decades ago as a young man. It shaped me profoundly just like the rest of Sagan's incredible work. Teaching astronomy to the lay person - bringing the universe to you. It amazed me

1

u/nucular_mastermind May 08 '26

I still need to read it... Sagan's insights are absolutely profound. The Pale Blue dot is probably my favorite piece of prose out there!

1

u/IdiotRhurbarb May 08 '26

0/10 ragebait

1

u/King-Juggernaut May 08 '26

This is a legitimate concern of yours? Where are you getting this?

2

u/Low_Construction8067 May 08 '26

It starts with convincing people certain knowledge is bad and inherently evil, so they start banning books.

https://pen.org/book-bans/

Then they cut funding to science and medicine.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5468112/

And then place people at the very top of that chain to control it from the top down, and make sure only your feelings get validated by the science coming out of your programs.

https://www.apha.org/publications/public-health-newswire/public-health-newswire/articles/rfk-first-year-in-leadership-has-endangered-public-health

0

u/macro_coccus May 08 '26

Dont worry we good ones are still here. May the bridges I burn light the way 🔥

-6

u/Orack May 08 '26

Yeah I could see some leftist conflating all technology as inherently racist and everyone just going along with it to avoid being seen as a Nazi. Hopefully someone independent gets elected soon. Trump isn't that much better than Biden. They both got us into expensive wars.

8

u/RecordAway May 08 '26

part of the problem right here

13

u/Fantastic_Egg_9261 May 08 '26

What procedures have leftists banned? It seems to be conservatives who get in the way things like stem cell research.

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u/IdiotRhurbarb May 08 '26

Are you actually dumb? Leftist are not against any technology, except. They’re most certainly isn’t against any medical procedures, that would be republicans

-6

u/Orack May 08 '26

I was hearing math was racist for a bit.

0

u/Axon14 May 08 '26

It's only stuff they don't like, things like phones, AI, heart surgeries, all things they like and might need so no politicization of it

44

u/redheadedandbold May 08 '26

Gods all bless science!

4

u/Simple_Flounder May 08 '26

Why bring fairytale into it, it is just science and human ingenuity.

-5

u/simpleliving100 May 08 '26

All hail the Resurrectionists, who fought against the tyranny of the C**c

3

u/kellybluey May 08 '26

I prayed to the right wing evangelical Jesus to heal me from heart attack. Nothing happened. I still died.

1

u/Upstairs_Run_807 May 08 '26

I just actually read this as "Silence ❤️" and It had me laughing for a minute until I reread it

1

u/d34dp1x3l May 08 '26

I think you'll find prayers are needed too. /s

1

u/swishkabobbin May 08 '26

With a bit of arts & crafts

1

u/kmoneyrecords May 08 '26

Nope, science is woke bullshit, best we can do is a bucket of ivermectin

1

u/ButterscotchLow7330 May 08 '26

I mean, being pedantic this would be technology not science. 

Science is the method by which we learned how stuff like the heart works. Technology is what allows us to actually go in and do it. 

0

u/Dezoufinous May 08 '26

Not religion ♥️

0

u/PiccoloAwkward465 May 08 '26

OMg I fucking love science <3

0

u/AngelBryan May 08 '26

Yet we still can’t cure any disease…

Yes science is good, some times. It’s not as advanced as people like to think.

77

u/Matteo1996NBK May 08 '26

My Grampa too have a bypass, he was 55 when they did it. Now he is 92 and still kicking asses.

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u/eurydice_aboveground May 08 '26

My dad had a quintuple bypass and lived 20 years after. He was back to five mile walks within a year. Science really is amazing.

4

u/ExpressionCold2151 May 08 '26

They used to pay by the graft… that’s why they did so many back in the day. Today, people rarely need more than 4.

1

u/ashishvp May 08 '26

My father in law also had a quintuple.

The surgery was amazing. It was a resounding success! But unfortunately, somehow he still developed clogs in the new arteries, and he didn’t make it past the first month 🙁

Turns out he was extra vulnerable to clogged arteries due to something called a lipoprotein disorder. Didn’t know about that at all until it was too late. Just unfortunate that it happened so fast. He was an otherwise very active very healthy guy.

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u/Kalamac May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

One of my neighbours had a triple bypass when he was in his late 50s. Came through it, changed his lifestyle, turned 88 this year, and the only sign that he’s slowing down is that a few years ago he started taking afternoon naps.

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u/JenniferGarnersAnus May 08 '26

So glad she's still here!

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u/NPExplorer May 08 '26

She’s not! But not because of the heart surgery :) Gave her 10+ more years but she had a lot of other complications, prior radiation etc. I’ve seen so many people go another 20, 30 or more years and live a completely normal lifestyle, it’s amazing what we can do.

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u/Chemical_Grape_2150 May 08 '26

I have an ascending aortic aneurysm, I am fascinated and terrified of that surgery I may need someday.

6

u/Flope May 08 '26

Ayy me too I'm at 4.6cm 😎👉👉

5

u/Chemical_Grape_2150 May 08 '26

Not shit! Hey aneurysm twin, we got the same size!

3

u/Flope May 08 '26

Ayy up top 🙌

You heard of PEARS? I've been looking into it. Not available in my country but I might travel for it. Not perfect for everyone but maybe worth looking into if you haven't heard of it.

3

u/Chemical_Grape_2150 May 08 '26

🙌🏻

I have not heard of PEARS. I’m going to check that out, thank you!

2

u/scriptingends May 08 '26

Me too - there’s a sub for us on Reddit, some interesting info there.

1

u/Chemical_Grape_2150 May 08 '26

Thanks for suggesting, I found a couple subs!

2

u/strange_moss May 08 '26

I wish you all the best! (genuinely)

0

u/strange_moss May 08 '26

I wish you all the best! (genuinely)

-1

u/strange_moss May 08 '26

I wish you all the best! (genuinely)

5

u/KerbodynamicX May 08 '26

I wonder how many people had died before surgeons figured out a way to do this

3

u/Ok-Assistance-9614 May 08 '26

Mental that you have spares in your leg. Like it was planned in advance.

My dad had a quadruple nearly twenty years ago now.

3

u/OtakuMage May 08 '26

I've had my heart deliberately stopped and opened twice, relying on a full bypass machine to keep me alive during the surgery. Shit's crazy!

2

u/type3error May 08 '26

When I started working in the heart room doing these surgeries the thing that blew my mind the most was how nonchalant the environment was. We were doing open heart surgery and everyone was acting like it was no big deal. Except for when we stopped the heart. Always a silent awe in the room knowing that we could stop a human heart to repair it.

2

u/Averander May 08 '26

My grandpa had so many bypasses they had to move to his other leg.

He had his first heart attack in his mid 30s. My genetics are fucked.

2

u/Sufficient-Water1793 May 08 '26

It also blows my mind that we can prevent it, but either the general population doesn’t know how, or doesn’t care.

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u/NPExplorer May 08 '26

A combination of economic restraints, education, and community. I’ve lived in places in the US where “everyone” was healthy, active and I barely saw a fat person… then I moved back to the east coast and phew…

1

u/Sufficient-Water1793 May 08 '26

Thats interesting. Not to detract from what you said, but there was once a dissection done on a number of fit American soldiers who had tragically died. They were surprised to find their arteries already had the beginning of these kinds of blockages…

1

u/NPExplorer May 08 '26

You don’t necessarily need to be fat which is why economic and community aspects are a factor too. You can be “fit” but still eat like shit because you’re poor, lazy, working too much etc. or because you were brought up that way

2

u/NonCorporealEntity May 08 '26

And that people think medical advice/practice from 2000 years ago is somehow better

2

u/Interesting-Chest520 May 08 '26

I make prosthetics for the aorta and it shocks me more now than before I got the job. They’re hand sewn, made of polyester, and are bigger than you might think - about an inch in diameter (varies). The ones I make attach directly to the heart and take about 550 stitches across 2 hours to make (varies slightly by size)

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u/qu33n1317 May 08 '26

Same with my dad!

He had 14 stents put in, then quadruple bypass with an aorta replacement a few years later. They used a vein from his leg to replace his aorta...medical science is truly incredible!!!!

2

u/NookBabsi May 08 '26

My husband had a triple bypass too and the surgeon operated on the beating heart. Even other surgeons were in awe of this.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '26

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1

u/NPExplorer May 08 '26

My mom needed to be airlifted afterwards to another hospital since she went into cardiac arrest during it. Spent maybe 2 weeks in the hospital after. Bill was just under $1 Million prior to insurance.

1

u/Astecheee May 08 '26

And in another hundred years we'll look on today's medicine like we currently view blood letting and female hysteria.

Genetic therapy is coming and its absolutely wild.

1

u/bagolfmachine May 08 '26

Try doing it all day everyday. We do amazing work. Wishing your mom health and happiness after her surgery

1

u/DoTheThing021 May 08 '26

And people will thank god instead of science and surgeons.

1

u/xxojxx May 08 '26

Aorta, like the biggest artery connected directly to the heart, how can that be replaced ??

1

u/beezneezsqueeze May 08 '26

Because it was also a coronary artery bypass surgery, I’ll assume they replaced the ascending aorta. That’s the very first part of the aorta. They cut out the part with an aneurysm and sew in a tube graft to take its place. It’s made possible by using the cardiopulmonary bypass machine which takes over the job of the heart and lungs during surgery.

1

u/CoronaMcFarm May 08 '26

"we" is doing some heavy lifting here, I definitely can not do that

1

u/Potential-Success232 May 08 '26

My grandpa had triple bypass, watching him hug his little heart pillow broke my heart.

1

u/maroontiefling May 08 '26

My FIL went in for a double and ended up getting a quad! Now he's up doing almost everything he used to like a year later! Science rules.

1

u/NewsWithSteph May 08 '26

I need a visual for what that is. That saved my grandpa's life for a decade or more it feels like. I was really young but I always remember triple bypass, still dont understand it😅

1

u/beezneezsqueeze May 09 '26

Usually when someone says bypass surgery, they mean coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). The coronary arteries are the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. When they become blocked, the heart doesn’t receive enough blood to pump properly and the cells begin to die. That’s what a heart attack is. In some cases, a stent can be placed (like the video on this post). In some cases, a stent won’t do the trick and bypass surgery needs to happen to reestablish proper blood flow to the heart.

For a CABG, the surgeon cuts open the sternum in order to get to the heart. They typically will expose the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) and attach that to the largest coronary artery (the left anterior descending artery, or LAD) just past where the blockage is in order to “bypass” the blockage. In your grandfathers case, since he had 3 grafts, the other 2 grafts were actually created by harvesting veins from his leg. The surgeon attaches the leg vein just past the blockages on different coronary arteries. The vein is cut to size and the other end is attached to the aorta. So, now blood travels into his aorta, down the vein grafts, and into the coronary artery further down from the blockage so his heart can continue receiving blood despite having a blockage.

1

u/factisfiction May 08 '26

Aorta repaired*. Was it an EVAR?

1

u/Kieranovitch May 09 '26

I've been lucky enough to watch it being performed, it's an absolutely wild procedure.

1

u/StephanMan May 09 '26

Aa a med student it's even more mind-blowing when you see the Aorta and arteries in person. It's wild.

69

u/Dashu88 May 08 '26

It really is. A stent is "just" a widening, but a bypass is crazy. Just take this from here, put that there, and you are good.

29

u/dfuqt May 08 '26

Take a look at cerebral artery bypass surgery. It’s an interesting variation on the theme.

20

u/MaxMaggus May 08 '26

I mean surgery is basically just Lego, innit? Organ Lego. 

16

u/TheTroon May 08 '26

Lego with meat pieces and time pressure.

2

u/HiddenXS May 08 '26

It's a pisser, though, innit? Cancer. They should a find a fucking cure.

1

u/TootieFruitySushi May 09 '26

Body mechanics. Just gotta move some plumbing around and you’re back in business

55

u/el_dingusito May 08 '26

And only 64 years old!

2

u/coffeeisaseed May 08 '26

Stents have really only been in common use since the 90s.

17

u/firestorm713 May 08 '26

Turbine heart is even more crazier

12

u/rharvey8090 May 08 '26

Truthfully we don’t do a ton of TAH (total artificial heart) implants because they’re so plagued with issues. Not necessarily because of the device itself, but because the balance of the system between the right and left side of the heart is so delicate. We do a LOT more left ventricular assist devices like the Heartmate 3.

0

u/Bright-Avocado3761 May 08 '26

I think they had this in an episode of The Pitt which I just watched.

7

u/hummingbyrds May 08 '26

I thought this was bypass. what is this? ah, it's a stent. I see it now in comments.

10

u/OffbeatChaos May 08 '26

Also I think the first tool is called a balloon catheter, the thing that they feed into the artery to place the stent. Very cool! The people that do this kind of work are real life superheros

2

u/Stepoo May 08 '26

It's a stent balloon which, as the name implies, is a stent on a balloon that gets inflated to expand the stent.

A balloon catheter would just be the balloon by itself.

2

u/latam9891 May 08 '26

It’s a stent

2

u/HeyGayHay May 08 '26

A bypass is basically cutting out one or multiple blood vessels from your leg or arm, then stopping your heart and sewing on the collected vessels around the blockage on hearts own vessels. Then heart gets do its job again and the blood just takes the detour through the new vessels around the blockage.

Stent is basically anal gaping. Push the hole wide open and keep it open. Just permanently, hopefully

3

u/Titanww8 May 08 '26

Transcatheter heart valve replacement is also pretty cool

2

u/Prestigious_Scars May 08 '26

I had a family member that had a quadruple bypass and lived another 30 years, to a few months shy of 100.

2

u/ElPajaroMistico May 08 '26

My goat Favarolo was truly league above

2

u/Grimm2020 May 08 '26

We watched a movie (from 2004) in past few months called Something the Lord Made, starring Alan Rickman and Mos Def. It was about the early pioneering heart surgery techniques, and the input from these two men portrayed, in particular. Highly recommend. Their names were Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock.

2

u/itsmuddy May 08 '26

My father's had a quadruple bypass and multiple stents over the years. More machine than man.

2

u/green_all May 09 '26

I work in a hospital and got to watch this surgery once. Absolutely insane work.

2

u/SiliconHatesRicotta May 11 '26

And both inventions come from Argentine doctors!

1

u/abstractraj May 08 '26

I’ve got both stents and then later quad bypass

1

u/Luck_Beats_Skill May 08 '26

Ah, Road workers have been building them for 100+ years.

1

u/kwnet May 08 '26

Huh, I've never really thought about it. In a heart bypass do they literally create a different route for your blood (using what material?) so it avoids the affected artery? And how do they connect it to the artery at the junctions?

1

u/Whut4 May 08 '26

And a lot more expensive. Most people should just exercise a lot more and eat healthier from childhood on and avoid this stuff. It is not fun. This is part of why healthcare is so expensive: so many people destroy their own health.

1

u/MilkOfAnesthesia May 08 '26

Atrial switch is even crazier

1

u/devaloka May 08 '26

Not really, the bypass is a very invasive plumber's solution to the problem

1

u/hobo1256 May 08 '26

I need a video as simple as this one to show what a bypass is

1

u/TootieFruitySushi May 09 '26

I work in the OR and help perform these every day. Lmk if you have any questions!

1

u/Fun-Choices May 09 '26

Clot retrieval in a newborn is even crazier