Objective To investigate the change and its roles of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in peripheral blood from patients with coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CAHD) during their acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and post operation of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), and to proride effective prevention and control of CAHD and AMI. Methods A total of 52 patients with AMI and 52 healthy controls (HCs) were involved in this study. The levels of NETs, fragment a of the factor B (Ba), fragment a of the 5th complement (C5a) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in peripheral blood were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at the onset of AMI [pre-treatment (PRT) group], post-operative treatment group (POT group) and in HC group. Their differences between the groups were detected by t test while the relationships between the parameters in PRT group were tested by Pearson correlation analysis. Results All the parameters from PRT and POT group were higher than those in the HC group, respectively. The levels of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), NETs, Ba, C5a and MPO in PRT group were higher than those in POT group [(0.279±0.132) ng/ml vs.(0.016±0.008) ng/ml, P Conclusions The persistent high level of NETs and its related high activity of complement alternative pathway in CAHD during the onset of AMI and post-treatment of CABG might contribute to the progression of the disease and the recurrence of myocardial infarction. Intervention on the formation of NETs might be one of the potential pathways to prevent the progression of CHAD and the occurrence of AMI.