surgeryBypass surgery produces oxidative stress, so it stands to reason that supplementing with antioxidants may improve surgical outcomes. Taking CoQ10 may be beneficial to coronary bypass patients, according to research appearing in the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia (2008 Dec;22(6):832-9). The subjects of the study were scheduled for CABG surgery. The 30 patients were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or between 150 -180 mg of CoQ10 per day for seven to ten days prior to the surgery. The group receiving the supplement has shorter hospital stays, fewer reperfusion arrhythmias, less need for blood product (and less mediastinal drainage) and less myocardial dysfunction than the control group.

Other research appearing in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (January 2005;129(1):25-32) 62 coronary bypass surgery patients received 300 mg/day of CoQ10 for two weeks before surgery. Another group of 59 subjects received a placebo. In the group receiving the supplement, mitochondrial respiration was more efficient and mitochondrial tissue from the supplement group recovered from hypoxia more quickly than it did for the control group. In short, CoQ10 protected from oxidative stress.