Identification of coronary artery by-pass grafts: reliability of MRI in clinical practice.
In order to test MRI ability to detect the number and the sites of coronary artery by-pass grafts (CABGs), 22 patients with CABGs were studied. The detection of a neo-vessel in even one of the examination slices was considered as positive for the study, disregarding the difference between its origin and course. With such a criterion, MRI total percentage of vascular bridges identification resulted in 76.1% (51/67) with very low values for CABGs implanted on diagonal, obtuse marginal and posterior descending vessels (11/24 = 45.8%). These results lead to the conclusion that, although MRI has some advantages in the identification of CABGs implanted on the main coronary vessels in the early post-operative period, its extensive use cannot be proposed at the present state of the art.
Di Renzi
P
P
Department of Radiology, University of L'Aquila, Italy.
Fedele
F
F
Di Cesare
E
E
Pavone
P
P
Fabietti
F
F
Sciomer
S
S
Vizza
D C
DC
Dagianti
A
A
Passariello
R
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000601:surgery; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome