From January 1989 until April 1990, 472 consecutive patients were oper
ated for coronary artery bypass grafting. The patients were classified
into three different groups. In group I, 412 patients were operated w
ithout endarterectomy. Group II consisted of 37 cases operated with en
darterectomy-bypass to 41 vessels. Group III consisted of 23 cases of
endarterectomy combined with patch-plasty-bypass to 24 vessels. The le
ngth of the segment endarterectomized was 25 to 70 mm (mean 37.86 +/-
12.18 mm). Peri-operative myocardial infarction occurred in 19 cases i
n group I (4.61 %), 6 cases in group II (16.21 %), and 3 cases in grou
p III (13.04 %). The percentage of IABP utilization was 2.91 % in grou
p I ; 10.81 % in group II ; 8.69 % in group III. The hospital mortalit
y for group I, group Il and group III was 3.88%; 8.10% and 8.69%. Mean
follow-up was 16.4 months for 72 % of patients. In 5 cases of group I
(1.80 %), in 8 cases of group II (27.58 %) and in one case of group I
II (5.55 %), myocardial infarction occurred in the late post-operative
period. Late mortality was 1.44% for group I; 17.24% for group II and
5.55 % for group III. There was no statistically significant differen
ce between groups II and III, but the late results of group III are pr
obably better.