2021: The American Association for Thoracic Surgery Expert Consensus Document: Coronary artery bypass grafting in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and heart failure

It is estimated that more than 125 million people live with ischemic heart disease globally, and each year in the United States, 720,000 have a first myocardial infarction resulting in hospital admission or death.1,2 Approximately 35% of those who experience a coronary event in a given year die because of it, and each death is associated with an average of 16 years of life lost. Ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) is the single largest cause of heart failure (HF), although the underlying causes are often multifactorial and overlapping.