Smooth Operators

Each year Doctors Robert Crosthwait and Robert Angel perform more than one hundred and twenty coronary artery bypass operations at Providence Hospital in Waco, Texas. Once the patient is anesthetized, his chest is opened and his heart is connected to a heart lung machine which will maintain the body's circulation while the heart is stopped. In the photograph above, Dr. Crosthwait makes an incision to expose the coronary artery while Dr. Angel aids with forceps. They will then stitch one end of a vein which they have removed from the patient's leg to the coronary and the other end of this vein to the aorta in order to "bypass" an area of bad circulation.

In the picture at right, Dr. Angel (third from left) watches the patient's electrocardiogram before closing the patient's chest in order to be sure the patient's heart is functioning correctly.

The entire operation takes about three hours, from initial incision to final closing. In the picture below, Dr. Crosthwait relaxes after it's all over.