Fatal bleeding from an aortocoronary bypass.

Abstract

Coronary bypass grafting is a routine procedure in heart surgery, which can now also be performed using a minimally invasive technique on the beating heart. In the presented case, a 55-year-old man died two days after bypass surgery. His condition had deteriorated post-operatively over 2 days until he finally died from multi-organ failure and cardiogenic shock. Autopsy revealed a fatal haemorrhage into the chest cavities from a small tear in the bypass and acute myocardial infarction. The haemorrhage had not been noticed in the hospital. Postoperative haemorrhage is a common complication after this type of surgery, which occurs in about 1-2 % of cases.