Myocardial revascularization: results relative to extensiveness

We analyzed 13,788 patient-years of follow-up of 2,628 consecutive patients who had had primary isolated coronary artery bypass. We then assessed late results relative to the number of coronary artery bypasses done. There were no significant differences in the incidence of survival, angina-free status, nonfatal acute myocardial infarction, repeat coronary artery bypass, or cardiac deaths relative to the number of bypasses in patients with single or double vessel disease. Patients with three vessel disease had significantly increased incidence of angina-free status and significantly decreased incidences of nonfatal acute myocardial infarctions and repeat coronary artery bypass with increasing number of bypasses performed. In this study, we found no advantage in performing increasing numbers of bypasses in patients with single or double vessel disease, but there was definitely such an advantage in patients with triple vessel disease.