Md. Eisenhauer et al., IMPACT OF AORTOCORONARY GRAFT MARKERS ON SUBSEQUENT GRAFT PATENCY - ARETROSPECTIVE REVIEW, Catheterization and cardiovascular diagnosis, 42(3), 1997, pp. 259-261
The use of aorto-coronary graft markers has not been standard, presuma
bly due to concern about possible adverse effects on subsequent graft
patency. Our goal was to determine if there was any increased risk of
graft occlusion in patients who received circumferential graft markers
at the time of their coronary artery bypass (CAB) surgery. A retrospe
ctive review of angiograms was performed for patients with prior CAB,
Cohorts with and without graft markers were compared. A total of 405 '
'unmarked'' and 311 ''marked'' grafts were identified in 335 patients
meeting inclusion criteria, Patency is reported in divisions of elapse
d time since CAB. Overall patency in the ''marked'' group (71.1%) was
significantly higher than in the ''unmarked'' group (58.0%, P < 0.001)
. In this retrospective population, there was no increased risk of gra
ft occlusion in patients who received circumferential graft markers at
the time of CAB surgery as compared to those patients who did not. (C
) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.