Coronary artery bypass with only in situ bilateral internal thoracic arteries and right gastroepiploic artery

Background-With the rapid advance of catheter intervention, the direction t aken by surgeons is not only to make conventional CABG less invasive but al so to pursue better long-term results by using more arterial conduits. Methods and Results-Between July 1989 and April 2000, 239 patients (218 men , 21 women) with a mean age of 59.7 (range 39 to 79) years underwent CABG w ith exclusive use of both internal thoracic arteries (ITAs) and the right g astroepiploic artery (RGEA). ITA grafts were harvested by using the skeleto nization technique. Most patients (96%) had either triple-vessel or left ma in disease. Fifty percent of the patients were diabetic, and 16 were being treated with insulin. The left ventricular ejection fraction was less than or equal to 40% in 46 patients (19%). Eleven patients (5%) had chronic rena l failure and were on hemodialysis. Follow-up was completed in 235 patients (98%). Postoperative follow-up averaged 43 (range 1 to 129) months. Sequen tial grafting was performed in 64 patients, and the mean number of anastomo ses was 3.3. One patient (0.4%) died of mediastinitis on the 53rd postopera tive day. Graft patency was confirmed angiographically in 230 patients (96% ) 2 to 3 weeks after surgery. The patency rate was 97.1% for the left ITA, 99.6% for the right ITA, and 95.5% for the RGEA. Five-year actuarial surviv al rate was 92.9%, and the cardiac death-free rate was 97.8%. Conclusions-Complete arterial grafting with both ITAs and RGEA was associat ed with minimal operative risk, a high early graft patency rate, and excell ent long-term results.