Midterm clinical results in myocardial revascularization using the radial artery

The aim of this study was to evaluate the immediate and midterm results of coronary artery bypass grafting with the radial artery (RA) as a conduit.

Two hundred forty-one patients underwent myocardial revascularization using the RA. In 78.5% of patients, three coronary vessels were involved, and in 25% of patients, the left main coronary artery was involved. The mean (+/- SD) preoperative ejection fraction was 58 +/- 13%.

The RA was implanted on branches of the circumflex artery in 81% of the cases, and the left internal mammary artery was implanted on the left anterior descending artery in 94% of patients. Total arterial myocardial revascularization was performed in 58% of patients.

The in-hospital mortality rate was 0.8%. Two patients had acute myocardial infarction, and three patients experienced a transient low-cardiac output syndrome. We reviewed the records of all 171 patients who had undergone at least 6 months of follow-up after surgery. The late mortality rate in this group was 0.6% (one patient died 2 months after surgery because of cardiocirculatory arrest due to untreatable ventricular fibrillation). At a mean follow-up time of 545 +/- 253 days, two patients showed class 3 residual angina according to the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) guidelines. One patient required another hospital admission 6 months after undergoing surgery for PTCA/stenting on a circumflex artery that had not previously undergone bypass. The second patient, 8 months after undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, underwent angiography and stenting on a stenosed anastomosis of a posterolateral branch of the circumflex artery that previously had been bypassed with the right internal mammary artery.

The routine use of the RA for coronary bypass grafting is a safe surgical technique, providing excellent clinical mid-term results in terms of cardiac event-free expectancy.