[Direct revascularization of the myocardium using the internal mammary artery]

The best graft in coronary bypass operations is the internal mammary artery (IMA) as its rate of staying open for long term is better than that of the vena saphena magna. The authors present the operative and postoperative results of their first 161 patients who were subjected to IMA grafting. 126 were men and 35 women of the patients and the average age was 50.2 years. Before the operation the majority of the patients belonged to NYHA III state (69.6%). 86 patients (53.4%) had myocardial infarction before the operation, 50.3% were operated on because of 3 blood vessel diseases and the stricture of the main trunk was confirmed in 12.4%. 128 patients underwent only coronary bypass operation, in the others thrombendarterectomy (17 patients), valvular operation (11 patients) and resection of the left ventricular aneurysma (5) were carried out simultaneously. The IMA graft was placed in the majority of the cases on the LAD (70.8%) or as a sequential anastomosis on the LAD-diagonal system (21.1%). The average number of peripheral anastomoses was 2.8 anastomoses patient. 2.5% was the rate of early mortality (4 patients), reoperation was performed in 10 cases because of bleeding or tamponade and perioperative infarction occurred in 8 cases. 3.1% was the rate of late mortality (5 patients). The average follow-up examination time was 12.7 months (3-39 months). At the postoperative examinations 88.8% of the patients were free of angina and 108 patients got into NYHA I state after the operation. Of the 43 control bicycle ergometric examinations 35 were negative and 8 positive.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)