title: Bovine internal thoracic artery graft. Successful use at urgent coronary bypass surgery.
abstract: Bovine internal thoracic artery grafts (Bioflow) were successfully utilized in two patients for emergency coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). One patient was an 80-year-old man with severe varicose veins and a calcified ascending aorta. Heart failure occurred after triple CABG with bilateral internal thoracic and gastroepiploic arteries. The addition of a Bioflow graft to the circumflex artery restored good cardiac function. The second case was a 54-year-old man whose patent old saphenous vein graft was accidentally injured at reoperation. Emergency use of the Bioflow to bypass the right coronary artery in combination with the right gastroepiploic artery graft to the anterior descending artery resulted in an excellent outcome. The two Bioflow grafts were patent at the 20th and 10th postoperative days, respectively. These cases strongly suggest the efficacy of Bioflow during emergency situations in CABG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suma
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wanibuchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Terada
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isshiki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001705:Bioprosthesis; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013895:Thoracic Arteries