Searches were limited to studies, reviews, and other evidence conducted in human subjects that were published in English. Key search words included but were not limited to the following: analgesia, anastomotic techniques, antiplatelet agents, automated proximal clampless anastomosis device, asymptomatic ischemia, Cardica C-port, cost effectiveness, de- pressed left ventricular (LV) function, distal anastomotic tech- niques, direct proximal anastomosis on aorta, distal anastomotic devices, emergency coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), heart failure, in- terrupted sutures, LV systolic dysfunction, magnetic connectors, PAS-Port automated proximal clampless anastomotic device, patency, proximal connectors, renal disease, sequential anasto- mosis, sternotomy, symmetry connector, symptomatic ischemia, proximal connectors, sequential anastomosis, T grafts, thoracot- omy, U-clips, Ventrica Magnetic Vascular Port system, Y grafts. Additionally, the committee reviewed documents related to the subject matter previously published by the ACCF and AHA. References selected and published in this document are repre- sentative but not all-inclusive. To provide clinicians with a comprehensive set of data, whenever deemed appropriate or when published, the absolute risk difference and number needed to treat or harm are provided in the guideline, along with confidence interval (CI) and data related to the relative treatment effects such as odds ratio (OR), relative risk (RR), hazard ratio (HR), or incidence rate ratio. The focus of these guidelines is the safe, appropriate, and efficacious performance of CABG. 1.2. Organization of the Writing Committee The committee was composed of acknowledged experts in CABG, interventional cardiology, general cardiology, and cardiovascular anesthesiology. The committee included rep- resentatives from the ACCF, AHA, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiolo- gists, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). 1.3. 