My 72 year old dad had a cabg (4 months) & is recovering but is experience pain near his right breast radiating to the armpit. is there a problem?

Pain after CABG: Most people after CABG do have vague pain. While most of aches and pain have no significance, a small but definite proportion will have cardiac origin. In most cases your cardiac surgeon will have a fairly decent confidence regarding true nature of the pain and your cardiologist can perform a stress test to determine the true nature.

Variety of causes...: This could be chest wall pain from retraction during surgery. The articulation between the ribs and breast bone get distracted during surgery and may cause lingering pain. You should see your cardiology to rule out cardiac cause first. If that is negative see your surgeon to evaluate the chest.

Possibly: Patients experience all types of aches and pains after surgery. Often there is rib and muscle pain even in areas away from the incision. It can be difficult to separate these pains from chest pain associated with the heart. Is the pain worse when pressing on the area? Does coughing or sneezing worsen it? It boils down to his surgeon having the best understanding of this.

Possible: He is far enough post op to be well. Sometimes lung, or pleural or chest wall issues surface with increased mobility and the deconditioning of heart disease and surgery.. See the cardiothoracic surgeon get an x-ray and sed rate blood test.