[Coronary revascularization with arterial bypass graft as a routine]

In the period from December 1989 until December 1991, coronary revascularization were performed on 68 patients using arterial grafts as a routine. The ages of the patients ranged from 43 to 85 years (average: 67.1 years), and there were 38 males and 30 females. Twenty-seven patients had angina pectoris, 32 had old myocardial infarction and 9 had acute infarction. The bypass grafts used were 69 left internal thoracic artery (LITA) grafts, 39 right internal thoracic artery (RITA) grafts, 68 right gastroepiploic artery (RGEA) grafts and 3 saphenous vein (SV) grafts. Thus, 179 grafts were used and an average of 2.6 bypasses were created per patient. There was only one death in 57 elective operations. Investigation of postoperative graft patency was performed in the 167 grafts that could be examined angiographically after surgery. Only 7 were obstructed, yielding a patency rate of 95.9%. By using both the ITA and RGEA, in situ anastomoses with the most of the coronary arteries could be performed. This operative form is considered to be useful technique and may be expected to produce favorable long-term results.