title: Use of the right gastroepiploic artery as a coronary artery bypass graft in 307 patients.
abstract: From October 1988 to October 1995 the right gastroepiploic artery was used as a conduit for coronary surgery in 307 patients. Their average age was 56.5 years (range 25-75) and 274 patients (89%) were male. Twenty-six cases (8.5%) were re-operations and 58 patients (19%) were operated upon on an urgent or semi-urgent basis. Target coronary vessels were the right coronary artery and its branches in 280 cases (91.4%), the circumflex artery in 25 cases (8%) and the left anterior descending artery in two cases. The right gastroepiploic artery was used as an in situ graft in 303 cases (98.7%) and as a free graft in 4 (1.3%). A total of 291 patients (94.8%) also received at least one mammary artery graft: both mammary arteries were used in 167 patients (54.4%). An average of 3.6 distal anastomoses were made per patient, three of them with arterial grafts. Eleven (3.2%) right gastroepiploic artery grafts were doubled with saphenous vein intraoperatively because of persistent myocardial ischemia. In-hospital mortality was 1.6% (five patients). Perioperative myocardial infarction occurred in twelve patients (3.9%). Follow-up now averages 26 months (range 6-88). There have been five late deaths (1.6%). A total of 265 (89.2%) patients are angina free. Of the total, 145 patients have been investigated with a maximal-stress test coupled with scintigraphy: residual myocardial ischemia was found in 10 patients, right gastroepiploic artery was related in three. Ninety-six patients have undergone angiographic restudy at a mean of 12 months (range 8-88) postoperatively. Patency of the right gastroepiploic artery grafts was 91.8%. This study confirms that the right gastroepiploic artery can be used as a conduit for coronary artery bypass surgery with minimal mortality or morbidity. Mid-term patency rates and clinical outcome are encouraging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Albertini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lochegnies
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: El Khoury
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Verhelst
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Noirhomme
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matta
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jacquet
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Underwood
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dion
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D004630:Emergencies; D006324:Heart Arrest, Induced; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012086:Reoperation; D013270:Stomach / Q000098:blood supply*; D016019:Survival Analysis