Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) Outcomes
Our goal at Lexington Medical Center is to offer the best cardiovascular services available to patients today. With the region’s only Duke Health-affiliated Heart Center, LMC patients can expect to not only receive fast treatment, but the most advanced treatments and protocols medicine has to offer. Our affiliation with Duke has allowed us to develop a strong cardiovascular program by ensuring we align with the latest practice guidelines, assist with staff education, and providing support with each new heart procedure started at LMC. The entire LMC Cardiovascular Team is truly dedicated to ensuring our patients are provided exceptional, quality care.
On March 28, 2012, Lexington Medical Center performed our first open heart surgery. Now, over 7 years later, our Cardiovascular Surgical Team has performed well over 2500 cardiovascular procedures. Through the Cardiovascular Services Committee, a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals reviews quality measures and participates in strategic planning for the organization’s cardiac services. We monitor 100% of our cardiac surgery patients, benchmarking ourselves nationally and responding to any opportunities for improvement and growth.
LMC is a participant in the Society for Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Registry for Adult Cardiac Surgery. The STS rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada.

STS ranked LMC in the highest quality tier for 2018 after surveying more than 1,000 participating programs and awarded LMC's cardiovascular program an overall three-star rating for heart surgery. The latest analysis of data for coronary artery bypass grafting procedures covered a one-year period, from January 1 to December 31, 2018. Historically, 10 to 12 percent of heart programs in the United States and Canada achieved this prestigious designation, which recognizes quality patient and clinical outcome excellence.
Perioperative bleeding requiring the need for blood transfusion is common during cardiac operations, especially those that require cardiopulmonary bypass. Interventions aimed at decreasing the need for blood products improves patient’s short and long-term outcomes. By following evidenced-based practice, LMC has consistently maintained lower than average usage of blood products.
After a coronary artery bypass graft procedure (CABG), many patients across the nation need to be discharged to a transitional care/rehab facility or a nursing home for additional care. At LMC, the majority of our patients are able to be discharged to their homes.