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Published on: November 24, 2014
Importance of Full-Length Scan of Arterial Grafts in Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting
Bedrudin Banjanović1, Jacob Bergsland, Emir Mujanović
1From the *BH Heart Center Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovina; and †The Intervention Centre, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Insights
Graft occlusion after bypass surgery can occur due to hidden arterial dissection. Routine ultrasound scanning of arterial conduits helps detect these issues, even with satisfactory flow measurements, improving graft patency.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Surgery
- Vascular Imaging
- Surgical Pathology
Background:
- Graft occlusion is a primary cause of cardiac ischemia following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
- Graft patency is strongly influenced by surgical technique during conduit harvesting and anastomosis.
- While Transit Time Flow (TTF) measurement assesses graft quality, it may not detect all structural abnormalities leading to occlusion.
Abstract:
Cardiac ischemia after coronary artery bypass grafting is often caused by graft occlusion. Short- and long-term graft patency is related to the quality of the surgical technique during harvesting and anastomosis. Transit time flow measurement is a recognized technique for the quality control of grafts but may not rule out structural abnormalities in the conduits, which can cause graft occlusion. This article reports on two cases of suspected intra-arterial dissection of the left internal mammary artery despite satisfactory flow measurements. Routine ultrasound scanning of arterial conduits is helpful in distinguishing dissection and hematoma in the graft conduits.
