bypass

Meaning of bypass: A bypass is a surgical procedure that creates an alternate route for blood or other body fluid around a blocked or diseased structure.

Definition of bypass

A bypass is a surgical procedure in which a new pathway is created to redirect the flow of blood or another body fluid around a blocked, narrowed, or otherwise diseased structure, allowing flow to reach its destination by an alternate route. The specific technique and structures involved vary considerably depending on which part of the body is affected.

A coronary artery bypass, one of the most common examples, uses a segment of a healthy blood vessel taken from elsewhere in the body to reroute blood around a blocked or severely narrowed coronary artery, restoring blood flow to the heart muscle beyond the blockage. A gastric bypass instead reroutes the path food takes through the digestive tract, connecting the stomach directly to a lower portion of the small intestine.

Because the term bypass describes a general surgical strategy rather than one specific operation, the structure being bypassed, whether a blood vessel, a segment of the digestive tract, or another passage, must be specified to understand what a particular bypass procedure involves.