Interval results with right gastroepiploic bypass.
OBJECTIVE
Right gastroepiploic artery bypass grafting has proved to be a viable surgical choice since the mid-1980s. Long-term graft patency, however, has been challenged ever since. We present 43 patients who underwent right gastroepiploic artery bypass surgery off pump with minimal invasive techniques with an average follow-up period of 57.9 months since 1996.


METHODS
Operative methods are described and were confined to a subxiphoid incision. The series consists of 43 patients (38 male and 5 female) with an age range of 44 to 79 years. All patients had heart disease classified as Canadian Cardiovascular Society class III-IV and 35/43 (81.3%) of patients had undergone 1 to 3 reoperations. Postoperatively, 93% had no complications. Crude mortality was 2.3%, with an expected mortality of 4% and risk-adjusted mortality of 1.45%. Nine patients underwent combined procedures.


RESULTS
Of the 43 patients, 41 were alive at 57.4 months (range, 20-76 months). Results of Doppler studies and angiography proved 95.3% and 91.6% patency.


CONCLUSIONS
In this series, our highest-risk patients with reoperative coronary artery disease had low mortality and no intervention in this interval follow-up.
Lajos
Thomas Z
TZ
State University of New York at Buffalo General Hospital, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Akhter
Mohammed
M
Bergsland
Jacob
J
Raza
Syed T
ST
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D024405:Gastroepiploic Artery / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D012008:Recurrence; D012086:Reoperation; D014654:Vascular Patency