Patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) belong to the very high-risk group of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Although CABG gets advantages in relieving symptoms and improving long-term outcomes, a significant risk of cardiovascular adverse events after surgery still exists and standardized secondary prevention is needed. Lipid management plays a critical role as a secondary preventive strategy in CABG. However, lipid management of CABG patients in real clinical setting is inadequate, including lack of standardized lipid-lowering strategy, low goal attainment rate, as well as poor long-term medication adherence. In recent years, a series of clinical trials have provided a lot of groundbreaking new evidence for lipid management in patients with cardiovascular diseases which offers new strategies together with objectives of lipid-lowering and comprehensive management for patients undergoing CABG. This article reviews the strategy and research progress of lipid management after CABG, aiming to provide objective reference for clinical treatment.
The European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) has recently updated and published the "2024 EACTS guidelines on perioperative medication in adult cardiac surgery". Based on the latest evidence, the guidelines have been updated in multiple aspects including underlying disease management, antithrombotic medication, arrhythmia treatment and other supportive care, etc. This paper aims to summarize and interpret the guidelines, in order to promote clinicians’ understanding and optimize perioperative medical treatment in adult cardiac surgery.
In May 2026, the American Heart Association (AHA) formally released the scientific statement "Secondary Prevention After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery: 2026 Update", which updates the 2015 statement. The new statement emphasizes a patient-centered shared decision-making model and further clarifies the application status of several novel drugs, including proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors (PCSK9i), sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1a), and angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNIs), in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients with relevant indications. This article systematically summarizes and interprets the major recommendations of the statement. In conjunction with the current status of postoperative management after CABG in China, it discusses the potential applicability, implementation barriers, and future research directions of these recommendations, with the aim of providing practical guidance for cardiac surgeons and other clinicians involved in the long-term management of patients after CABG.
ObjectiveTo interpret the major updates in the "2026 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia" and provide guidance for perioperative and long-term lipid management in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery. Methods Based on the 2026 guideline and relevant cardiovascular outcome studies, this article summarized key aspects of lipid management across the entire life span, PREVENT-ASCVD risk assessment, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) targets, lipoprotein(a) and apolipoprotein B testing, management of hypertriglyceridemia, and the use of non-statin therapies, while analyzing their clinical implications from the perspective of cardiovascular surgery. ResultsThe 2026 guideline expanded the focus of lipid management from simple cholesterol control to comprehensive, lifelong lipid protein risk management across the entire spectrum. It recommended the PREVENT-ASCVD model, integrated risk-enhancing factors and coronary artery calcium scores to refine risk stratification, re-established LDL-C and non-HDL-C targets, strengthened management of lipoprotein(a), apolipoprotein B, and hypertriglyceridemia, and emphasized early combination lipid-lowering therapy. These updates helped identify residual cardiovascular risks in surgical patients, promoted postoperative lipid target achievement, and supported long-term secondary prevention. ConclusionThe 2026 guideline advances lipid management toward precise risk stratification, goal-directed therapy, and longitudinal intervention. Standardized lipid assessment and lipid-lowering therapy should be integrated into perioperative and long-term postoperative management in cardiovascular surgery to improve long-term patient outcomes.