90% of All Bypass Procedures May Be Unnecessary

The point of this short blog is to share some voices from the medical field questioning the merit of bypass surgery in at least some of the cases. The most prominent of these is Dr. Thomas A. Preston, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Chief of Cardiology at Pacific Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. We do not quote him here, because for those interested it will be worth their while to read the entire article Marketing an Operation: Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery, published in different places on the net.

Dr. Michael Murray ND is a graduate, faculty member, and serves on the Board of Trustees of Bastyr University, Seattle, Washington State. He is also the bestselling author of over 30 books. He has this to say,

"The bottom line is this: when patients are advised to have a coronary angiogram, chances are eight out of ten that they do not need it. The critical factor in whether a patient needs coronary artery bypass surgery or angioplasty is how well the left ventricular pump is working, not the degree of blockage or the number of arteries affected. The left ventricle (chamber) of the heart is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood through the aorta (the large artery emanating from the heart) and to the rest of the body. Bypass surgery is only helpful when the ejection fraction (the amount of blood pumped by the left ventricle) is less than forty percent of capacity. Up to ninety percent of all bypass procedures are done when the ejection fraction is greater than 50 percent, which is adequate for circulatory needs. In other words, as many as 90 percent of all bypass procedures may be unnecessary."

Michael T Murray ND, Joseph L Pizzorno ND, Encyclopedia Of Natural Medicine, p 243

Francisco Contreras, MD - Graduated with honors from the prestigious School of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He continued his studies at the University of Vienna, Austria, where he specialized in Surgical Oncology and graduated with honors once more. Dr. Contreras is a cancer specialist recognized as an expert at combining conventional and alternative therapies with emotional and spiritual support. Through his practice, books, interviews and conferences, he shares easy and practical ways to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and chronic illnesses. He is the author of several bestselling books. In Health in the 21st Century, he writes about bypass surgery,

"A team of conservative cardiologists in Brigham Hospital, Boston, evaluated 88 patients that had been scheduled for cardiac bypass surgery. They advised against surgery for 74 of the 88. Among those 74, 60 accepted a second opinion and didn't have the operation. These patients were followed for a period of two years plus. Only two had minor attacks that could be treated conservatively, an outcome comparable to that of the 14 (scared not to take the advise of the conservative specialists) patients that underwent open-heart surgery. In short, a vast number of patients are submitted to unnecessary procedures by cardiologists.

Francisco Contreras MD, Health In The 21st Century, p 212

The last voice quoted is that of Larry Dossey MD. It is a voice that resonates with us here at Healthy Healing, because he is never up to the age old trick of proving others wrong. In all his writing he is rather motivated to widen the readers perspective. Nevertheless he makes a point here regarding bypass surgery, which is quite to the point that is being made...

"Pierce now knew the research in the field of nonlocal medicine inside and out. She was amazed that many physicians ignored the evidence. Their reasons, she suspected, were rooted in the tendency of humans to hang onto what is familiar and comfortable. Many physicians, for example, continued to do coronary bypass surgery the old way, opening up the chest cavity, instead of using the new percutaneous fiberoptic methods that made open-chest surgery unnecessary."

Larry Dossey MD, Reinventing Medicine, p 184