Historic medical milestone: first coronary bypass performed without opening the chest

By Tahani Elghazaly
Published January 16, 2026

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U.S. researchers and physicians have reported a first-of-its-kind coronary artery bypass procedure performed without opening the chest or cutting through the breastbone, a development that could eventually offer a less traumatic alternative for patients who are too high-risk for open-heart surgery.

Reuters said the team threaded surgical tools through a blood vessel in the patient’s leg instead of making a chest incision, using a technique called VECTOR (ventriculo-coronary transcatheter outward navigation and re-entry).

NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) said the first patient was a 67-year-old man who needed another aortic valve replacement, but his anatomy placed the left coronary artery opening dangerously close to the valve, raising the risk of a rare yet often lethal coronary obstruction during standard valve procedures.

According to NIH, VECTOR is designed to create a new, safer pathway for blood flow away from the valve “danger zone,” using catheter-based steps and deploying a stent-graft to form an alternative route, building on work previously tested in animal models.

Six months after the procedure, the patient showed no signs of coronary obstruction, and researchers said broader testing in more patients will be needed before the approach can be used more widely.