摘要篇首： To the editor: Chen and colleagues,1 and the editorial staff of the Chinese Medical Journal, deserve much credit for carrying out and publishing a prospective comparative study of on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery in 300 patients with triple-vessel coronary artery disease. Although this study is limited by non-randomization and selection bias yet contrary to the previously published prospective, randomized studies by Van Dijk et al,2 and Ascione et al,3 the patient population of this study is more representative of current coronary artery surgery practices. Even more important is the conclusion that OPCAB can be applied to patients with triple-vessel coronary artery disease and "in experienced hands" can achieve similar completeness of revascularization and similar early surgical results.