title: Percutaneous saphenous vein angioplasty to avoid reoperative bypass surgery.
abstract: Thirty-seven patients with vein graft stenosis following coronary artery bypass underwent percutaneous transluminal vein graft angioplasty to avoid another operation. Location of the stenoses was at the aortic anastomosis in 3 patients, in the vein body in 12, and at the distal anastomosis in 22. All patients had disabling angina pectoris. Initial success (greater than 20% reduction of stenosis) was achieved in 35 patients. Vein graft angioplasty was performed within a year after bypass in 28 patients. The percent of stenosis and the pressure gradient across the obstruction were reduced from 84 to 24% and from 58 to 15 mm Hg, respectively. Complications of the procedure included emergency coronary artery bypass in 2 patients, myocardial infarction in 2, and ventricular fibrillation in 1. There were no deaths. Of 15 patients with stenosis at the aortic anastomosis or vein body, the dilation was initially successful in 14 but restenosis occurred in 7 within the first year after angioplasty. Only 2 of the remaining 7 were asymptomatic after vein graft angioplasty. However, for patients having vein graft angioplasty of the distal anastomosis, restenosis occurred in only 3, while 12 were asymptomatic at the end of the first year. The average hospital cost of a repeat coronary artery bypass operation was 2.8 times the cost of vein graft angioplasty.
mesh_terms: D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012086:Reoperation