DEATH rates among people undergoing heart surgery are falling despite surgeons taking on more high-risk patients, a report said today.
People undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery, which accounts for about 60% of all heart surgery in adults, are less likely to die despite more elderly patients being operated on.
The procedure is for people suffering a narrowing of the arteries supplying blood to the heart muscle, caused by a thickening and hardening of the blood vessel wall.
Every year 28,000 of the operations - which involve taking a vessel from the chest or leg to use as a graft - are performed in the UK.
Today's report found that, in 2008, 25% of all patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery were over 75 - a rise of 10% on the number in 1999.
The number of people over 80 having the surgery is also rising, making up 4.4% of all patients undergoing this type of operation.
There are also more people with diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure having the operation, which all carry extra risks.
Despite these rises, the chance of a person dying has fallen from 2.6% in 2001, to 1.9% in 2004 to 1.5% in 2008.
Today's report, from the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery, contains complete coverage of all NHS hospitals undertaking adult heart surgery in the UK.
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