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Purely internal thoracic artery grafts: outcomes
A J Tector1, M L McDonald, D C Kress
1Midwest Heart Surgery Institute, St Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. tector@execpc.com
Background:
Most of our patients with coronary artery disease have undergone bypass exclusively with purely internal thoracic artery grafts (PITA). Our goal has been to lengthen the time a patient benefits from coronary bypass operations. The present report describes an 8.5-year study of outcomes including mortality and the need for reintervention in patients who have undergone bypass with PITA.
Methods:
We studied 897 patients who underwent PITA with a total of 3,784 internal thoracic artery (ITA) grafts (4.2 grafts per patient). Connecting ITA to ITA along with sequential anastomosis made the procedure possible.
Results:
Early mortality for the group was 2.3%. Freedom from death was 86% and freedom from reintervention was 94% at 5 years after the operation.
Conclusions:
The acceptable early and late mortality and the 94% freedom from reintervention as long as 8.5 years after operation in this group of patients inspire us to continue choosing PITA for patients with three-vessel coronary artery disease.