HISTOLOGIC EVIDENCE SUGGESTING THAT THE RIGHT GASTROEPIPLOIC ARTERY IS LESS SUITABLE AND LESS LONG-LASTING THAN THE INTERNAL MAMMARY IF USED AS A BYPASS CONDUIT - A POSTMORTEM COMPARISON OF THE GASTROEPIPLOIC,INTERNAL MAMMARY, LEFT CORONARY, AND RENAL-ARTERIES IN UNSELECTED SUBJECTS

This study compares the thicknesses of the intima and media and their ratio in the right gastroepiploic (GEA), internal mammary (IMA), left coronary (LCA), and renal (RA) arteries as part of a histologic study of the structure of these vessels at necropsy in 11 newborns aged twen ty-one +/-22.6 days. No significant differences were found between the LCA and the other arteries, apart from its media thickness and that o f the IMA (P = 0.023). The media was thinnest in the IMA, thickest in the LCA. The values for the GEA were much the same as those for the LC A. The particular structure of the IMA compared with the LCA and GEA, evident in the newborn, explains its resistance to atherosclerotic dep osition. The fact that the structure of the GEA is similar to that of the LCA indicates that its resistance to atherosclerosis will be less than that of the IMA when used as a bypass conduit.