[Intraoperative assessment of composite bypass grafts by means of ultrasonic Doppler flowmetry]

The use of the both internal thoracic arteries while forming a composite bypass graft has been suggested as a method making it possible to carry out total myocardial revascularization. However, controversial still remain the problem of the distribution of blood in these bypass grafts, as well as that concerning T-grafts' capability of providing the sufficient blood inflow to the basin of the coronary arteries being bypassed. The method of ultrasonic Doppler flowmetry was used to perform the intraoperative assessment of 59 composite bypass grafts along such parameters as the pulsatility index (PI), mean volume blood flow velocity (Qmean), and percentage of diastolic volumetric filling (DF). The obtained findings were statistically processed making it possible to obtain the average parameters of blood flow for the composite bypass grafts and their branches. A dependence was established between blood flow distribution in the composite conduit and the degree of the lesion of the artery being bypassed.