Off-pump Versus On-pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Frail Patients

Frailty is defined as a geriatric syndrome of impaired resiliency to stressors (such as cardiac surgery) that has been delineated recently in the cardiovascular literature. One of the most controversial areas of cardiac surgery has been whether off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) surgery is superior to conventional on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. There is an ongoing debate about the benefits and disadvantages of OPCAB surgery and we believe that this remains an important technique for the improvement of coronary surgery. The benefits of CABG surgery in frail patients are still undetermined. The aim of this study is to clarify the potential benefit of OPCAB surgery in pre-frail and frail patients by comparing off-pump versus on-pump CABG in these patients.