title: Combined internal mammary artery graft for coronary artery revascularization.
abstract: Five patients with multiple-vessel coronary artery disease underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting with a technique involving both internal mammary arteries and a small piece of interposed saphenous vein. The combined internal mammary artery grafts were used for sequential grafting. A total of 20 anastomoses were performed (average number, 4 anastomoses per patient). There were no operative deaths. Postoperative complications included reoperation for bleeding in 1 patient and diaphragmatic dysfunction in another. Postoperative coronary angiography 2 days before discharge (mean time, 10 days postoperatively) revealed that all the sequential anastomoses with the combined IMA graft were patent. Exercise tolerance tests performed 3 and 11 months postoperatively indicated excellent results and no ischemia. Based on this experience, we conclude that this method appears promising for multivessel coronary artery bypass grafting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bakay
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akçevin
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Süzer
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paker
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Türkoğlu
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Akpinar
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aytaç
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Demiroğlu
mesh_terms: D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007387:Internal Mammary-Coronary Artery Anastomosis / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000637:transplantation*