Injection of vasodilators into arterial grafts through cardiac catheter torelieve spasm

Both native coronary artery and coronary bypass grafts may develop vasospas m after coronary artery bypass grafting. We recommend that whenever there i s a high suspicion of vasospasm in arterial grafts and the native coronary artery unresponsive to or not suitable for usual vasodilator therapy, promp t selective graft arteriogram should be performed. Intraluminal injection o f vasodilators such as calcium antagonists in combination with nitroglyceri n may provide an effective antispastic therapy and this procedure could be lifesaving as demonstrated in the present report. (C) 2000 by The Society o f Thoracic Surgeons.