title: Patency of saphenous vein coronary artery bypass grafts from the vascular prosthesis of the ascending aorta.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients who have Stanford type A aortic dissection with impaired coronary arteries or who have aneurysms from the ascending aorta to the aortic arch with coronary artery disease need coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with tube graft replacement of the ascending aorta simultaneously. When vein grafts are used for CABG in these patients, the proximal anastomoses of vein grafts are attached to the prosthetic tube graft of the ascending aorta. However, the validity of proximal anastomoses of vein grafts to the prosthetic tube graft of the ascending aorta has not been confirmed.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed patients who underwent venous coronary bypass grafting with prosthetic graft replacement of the ascending aorta. Between January 1984 and October 2002, 35 patients underwent CABG using saphenous vein grafts at the time of tube graft replacement of the ascending aorta, and the proximal anastomoses of the vein grafts were attached to the tube graft of the ascending aorta. Thirty-three venous bypass grafts were analyzed in 24 survivors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The postoperative catheterization showed only one early vein graft occlusion of 16 vein grafts anastomosed distally to the left anterior descending artery (LAD). All 14 venous grafts anastomosed to the right coronary artery (RCA) and 3 to the left circumflex artery (LCX) were patent. Therefore, the postoperative patency rate at discharge was 97.0% (32/33). Spiral computed tomography performed for long term follow-up revealed occlusion of two vein grafts (3.5 years and 9.7 years) anastomosed to the LAD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The patency rate of vein grafts anastomosed from prosthetic grafts of the ascending aorta to the native coronary arteries was similar to that of conventional CABG using saphenous vein grafts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Oita Medical University, Oita, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidenori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sako
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hadama
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shigemitsu
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Anai
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wada
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000601:surgery*; D001011:Aorta / Q000601:surgery; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000601:surgery*; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000601:surgery / Q000637:transplantation*; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed; D014654:Vascular Patency / Q000502:physiology*