Commentary: Inattention to detail is the hallmark of mediocrity

Abstract

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery has undergone several innovative phases over the last number of decades. These include, for example, off-pump surgery, total arterial bypass grafting and minimally invasive approaches, sophisticated surgical techniques for the anastomoses, improved myocardial protection techniques, as well as improvements in the technology of extracorporeal circulation. These advances have improved the results in terms of mortality and morbidity perceivably. 1,2 However, postoperative management is just as important as the surgical techniques, especially for the long-term outcome. Several papers have been published showing the importance of postoperative pharmacologic strategies for improved long-term survival, which recommend bblockers, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors, platelet inhibitors, and statins. [1][2][3] While strict postoperative medication plans are used for the majority of patients with coronary artery disease after interventional treatments, this is rarely the case after CABG.The present study 4 is extremely important to highlight once again the imperative necessity of postoperative medication in the long term. This very unique study, in which data are generated from 5 mandatory national registries and merged for the study (ie, Swedish Cardiac Surgery Registry, National Patient Register, National Cause of Death Register, Swedish Population Register, and Swedish Prescribed Drug Register), uses the unique identification number allocated to all Swedish residents.In fact, the study found that ongoing statin treatment was associated with a reduced risk for all of the investigated outcome variables. Patients often fear stroke and dementia From the