ObjectiveTo compare and analyze the postoperative quality of life in patients after minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting (MICABG) and conventional median thoracotomy off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (OPCABG). MethodsFrom November 2015 to January 2018, 94 patients who underwent MICABG in the Peking University Third Hospital were included in the MICABG group. During the same period 441 patients who received OPCABG were included in the OPCABG group. The patients were matched by using propensity score matching method with a ratio of 1∶1. The quality of life was compared between two groups at 1 month, 6 months and 12 months after the surgery using SF-36 scale. ResultsA total of 82 patients were matched for each group. In the MICABG group, there were 66 males and 16 females with a mean age of 62.6±8.2 years. In the OPCABG group, there were 67 males and 15 females with a mean age of 63.2±13.2 years. One month after the operation, the physical health assessment (PCS) and mental health assessment (MCS) of the MICABG group were higher than those of the OPCABG group (50.3±10.6 points vs. 46.1±10.3 points, P=0.011; 59.5±9.3 points vs. 54.2±11.0 points, P=0.002). Scores of these following five dimensions: general health, physical functioning (PF), role-physical, social functioning (SF), role-emotion in the MICABG group were higher than those in the OPCABG group, while the score of body pain was inferior to that in the OPCABG group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Six months after the surgery, the PCS and MCS of the two groups were not statistically different (80.0±13.1 points vs. 77.8±12.4 points, P=0.271; 81.6±13.5 points vs. 80.4±11.2 points, P=0.537). However, the scores of PF and SF in the MICABG group were still higher than those in the OPCABG group (P<0.05). Twelve months after the surgery, there was no statistical difference in the score of each dimension between the two groups (P>0.05). ConclusionThe improvement of quality of life within 6 months after MICABG is better than that of OPCABG, and it is similar between the two groups at 12 months after the surgery, indicating that MICABG has a certain effect of improving the short-term quality of life after the surgery, and the long-term quality of life is comparable to conventional surgery.