[Revascularization of left anterior descending artery area using a skeletonized left internal mammary artery: a...

Objective: To evaluate in-hospital and mid-term outcomes of sequential versus separate grafting of in situ skeletonized left internal mammary artery (LIMA) to the left coronary system in a single-center, propensity-matched study. Methods: After propensity score matching, 120 pairs of patients undergoing first, scheduled, isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with in situ skeletonized LIMA grafting to the left anterior descending artery (LAD) territory were entered into a sequential group (sequential grafting of LIMA to the diagonal artery and then to the LAD) or a control group (separate grafting of LIMA to the LAD). The in-hospital and follow-up clinical outcomes and follow-up LIMA graft patency were compared. Results: The two propensity score-matched groups had similar in-hospital and follow-up clinical outcomes. The number of bypass conduits ranged from 3 to 6 (with a mean of 3.5), and 91.3%(219/240)of the included patients received off-pump CABG surgery. No significant differences were found between the two propensity score-matched groups in the in-hospital outcomes, including in-hospital death and the incidence of complications associated with CABG (prolonged ventilation, peroperative stroke, re-operation before discharge, and deep sternal wound infection). During follow-up, 9 patients (4 patients from the sequential group and 5 patients from the control group) died, and the all-cause mortality rate was 3.9%. No significant difference was found in the all-cause mortality rate between the 2 groups[3.4% (4/116) vs 4.3% (5/115), P=0.748]. During follow-up period, 99.1% (115/116) patency for the diagonal site and 98.3% (114/116) for the LAD site were determined by coronary computed tomographic angiography after sequential LIMA grafting, both of which were similar with graft patency of separate grafting of in situ skeletonized LIMA to the LAD. Conclusions: Revascularization of the left coronary system using a skeletonized LIMA resulted in excellent in-hospital and mid-term clinical outcomes and graft patency using sequential grafting.