Multi-arterial and total-arterial coronary revascularization: Past, present, and future perspective

Although abundant biological, clinical, and scientific evidence exists on the superiority of multi-arterial (MAR) and total-arterial revascularization (TAR) over the conventional strategy with a single internal thoracic artery, only 10% of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in the United States receives a second arterial conduit, and only 5% of patients receives TAR.

In January 2020, the authors performed comprehensive search to identify studies that evaluated MAR and TAR strategies through the MEDLINE database.

In this paper, the authors reviewed the literature on the historical and current evidence in favor of MAR and TAR, thus underlying why current CABG practice needs qualitative improvement.