title: Comparison of flow capacities of arterial and venous grafts for coronary artery bypass grafting: evaluation with exercise thallium-201 single-photon emission tomography.
abstract: Stress thallium-201 tomography was performed to compare the flow capacities of arterial and saphenous vein grafts in patients with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). One hundred and seven consecutive patients (95 male and 12 female; mean age 58+/-9.1 years) underwent exercise-redistribution 201Tl myocardial single-photon emission tomography 4-5 weeks after CABG. When a reversible perfusion defect was present in the area covered by a patent bypass graft, the flow capacity of the graft was defined as insufficient. Of all 285 grafts, 211 were considered as complete bypass. Reversible perfusion defects were present in 29 (27%) of 108 myocardial areas supplied by patent arterial grafts but in only 5 (5%) of 103 myocardial areas supplied by patent saphenous vein grafts (P<0.0001). In the LAD area reversible defects were observed in 22 of 82 areas covered by arterial grafts, in contrast to only 1 of 29 areas covered by venous grafts (P<0.01); in the RCA area reversible defects were observed in 7 of 17 and 4 of 41 areas respectively (P<0.01). There was no difference between the native coronary artery stenosis bypassed by patent arterial and venous grafts (88%+/-12% vs 86%+/-14% respectively, P=0.27). In conclusion, flow capacities during peak myocardial demand were more frequently insufficient in arterial bypass grafts than in saphenous vein grafts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taki
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawasuji
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tonami
mesh_terms: D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007387:Internal Mammary-Coronary Artery Anastomosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000637:transplantation; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D013997:Time Factors; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014654:Vascular Patency
chemical_list: D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes