title: Identification of coronary artery by-pass grafts: reliability of MRI in clinical practice.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Renzi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fedele
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Cesare
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pavone
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fabietti
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sciomer
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Vizza
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dagianti
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Passariello
mesh_terms: 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