SAPHENOUS-VEIN GRAFT SHRINKAGE AS A MECHANISM OF STENOSIS SOON AFTER BYPASS-SURGERY

A 63-year-old man with left main coronary artery disease underwent aor tocoronary bypass surgery using saphenous vein grafts. Less than 1 mon th later, severe narrowing occurred in the mid-portion of the vein gra ft to the left anterior descending coronary artery. Preintervention in travascular ultrasonography revealed prominent vein graft shrinkage. P ercutaneous transluminal angioplasty failed because the stenotic lesio n could not be dilated, even by high-pressure balloon inflation. Saphe nous vein graft shrinkage appears to be one of the mechanisms of early saphenous vein graft stenosis, and balloon angioplasty to the vein gr aft stenosis with prominent shrinkage may be of only limited value.