Port access heart surgery facilitates surgical procedures that can be conducted through small incisions, or "ports," without having to open the patient’s sternum, or breast bone. The surgical team passes instruments through the ports to perform the surgery, for example a coronary artery bypass. During the operation, the heart surgeon views the procedure on a video monitor.

During port access heart surgery, the heart is stopped and the patient is connected to the heart-lung bypass machine by a tube placed in the groin and threaded into the femoral artery. The heart-lung bypass machine allows for the circulation of blood throughout the body while the surgeon performs the bypass operation.