OBJECTIVE: First to identify the patient-, procedural- and surgical experience variables influencing the early and late survival after CABG. Second to identify patients likely to benefit, and those unlikely to benefit, from technical details aimed at improving the results of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS: A consecutive series of 9600 patients who underwent CABG using a variety of revascularization methods between 1971 and 1992 were followed with 99.9% success. A multivariable time-related analysis was performed. Patient-specific predictions and nomograms were constructed from it to explore and validate the influences and interdependences of patient-variables with variations in details of the procedure. RESULTS: The 1-, 10- and 20-year risk-unadjusted survival was 97, 81 and 50% respectively. Patient-variables influencing early survival included severity of symptoms, patient presentation and extent of coronary disease, while late survival was influenced importantly by left ventricular function and cardiac and non-cardiac comorbidity. Technical details of the operation influencing early survival included use of endarterectomy, while details such as use of arterial grafting, extensiveness of sequential grafting, completeness of revascularization and extent of grafting to small coronaries influenced late survival to a highly variable degree. CONCLUSION: The early survival is neither improved nor worsened by single, multiple, sequential or complete arterial coronary reconstruction. The late survival is modestly improved with the use of anarterial graft to a major vessel, preferably but not exclusively to the anterior descendens, except for patients with limited life-expectancy. Differences in time-related survival with and without an arterial graft are nearly the same across all levels of ejection fraction. No late beneficial or detrimental effect was identified with more extensive use of arterial reconstructive surgery in multisystem disease.