Publications
Publications
- 2021
- HBS Working Paper Series
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: Case Histories of Significant Medical Advances
By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Fabio Villa
Abstract
We describe how Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG, or more popularly, “bypass”) operations revolutionized the treatment of coronary disease (that can produce fatal heart attacks and debilitating angina). We first provide a simplified overview of coronary disease and the treatments available in 2000. The remaining sections chronicle the: 1) development of the foundational procedures and technologies that provided a base for CABG; 2) pioneering CABG operations performed in the 1960s; 3) rapid—and controversial growth—that occurred in the U.S. in the 1970s and, 4) emergence and rapid diffusion of the less invasive angioplasty alternative in the last two decades of the 20th century.
Keywords
Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms
Citation
Bhidé, Amar, Srikant M. Datar, and Fabio Villa. "Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: Case Histories of Significant Medical Advances." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-010, July 2019. (Revised May 2021.)
