title: Surgical treatment of 200 consecutive patients with left main coronary artery disease.
abstract: Two hundred consecutive patients underwent myocardial revascularization for left main coronary artery disease between January, 1975, and December, 1981. The mean age of this group was 64 +/- 8 years, and 78.5% of the patients were men. The anginal pattern was chronic stable in 6% of the patients and progressive or unstable in the remainder. Resting electrocardiograms showed prior myocardial infarction in 45.5%. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was elevated in 145 patients, and ejection fraction was less than 50% in 40 patients. The mean number of bypass grafts per patient was 3.2 +/- 1.4 (standard deviation). Seventeen patients underwent major concomitant cardiovascular procedures. The operative mortality was 3.5%, and the incidence of perioperative infarction was 3%. Factors associated with reduced operative survival were increased age; unstable angina, or acute myocardial infarction, or both; female sex; circumflex-dominant circulation; and major concomitant procedures. Late mortality at a mean follow-up of 33.5 months was 6%, and 91% of the surviving patients assessed their quality of life as "excellent" or "good."
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D011183:Postoperative Complications