Preoperative Intraaortic Balloon Pumping Improves Outcomes for High-Risk Patients in Routine Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

The preoperative use of intraaortic balloon pumping appears to shift high-risk patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting into a lower-risk category and is associated with comparable perioperative troponin leakage and short-term and long-term outcomes similar to low-risk patients not receiving intraaortic balloon pumping.