[Multiple off pump coronary artery bypass grafting - risks and benefits].

This and other studies have shown the effectiveness of OP CAB surgery concerning perioperative complications and survival rates. Especially high-risk patients with multiple risk factors for a cardiac operation profit from a beating-heart operation avoiding extracorporeal circulation. The question in how far the higher rate of reoccuring angina and the larger number of interventional treatments in OP CAB patients reported in the literature are due to the learning curve remains unanswered. Long-term studies will show whether the result of beating heart surgery is as good as the result of conventional "on-bypass" surgery.