title: Total arterial revascularization with composite skeletonized gastroepiploic artery graft in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Total arterial revascularization in coronary artery bypass grafting has recently become of great interest to many surgeons. At the same time, off-pump coronary bypass grafting has also become a popular procedure because of its low morbidity and mortality. Here we report our recent series of off-pump coronary bypass grafting performed with a grafting technique we developed by using the skeletonized gastroepiploic artery and the radial artery composite graft to achieve total arterial revascularization.
  
  
  METHODS
  From September 2000 to April 2003, 98 patients underwent total arterial revascularization with the skeletonized gastroepiploic artery and radial artery composite graft on the beating heart. We used the gastroepiploic artery graft of choice in patients with a right coronary artery lesion. When multiple grafting was required in inferior, posterolateral, or lateral ventricular walls and the gastroepiploic artery graft was too short to cover these areas, we used the composite grafting technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no in-hospital deaths and there was no severe morbidity among the study patients. Postoperative angiography showed graft occlusion at the anastomosis site between the gastroepiploic and radial arteries. The patency rate of the gastroepiploic arterial composite graft was 98.3% (118/120 distal anastomoses).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A composite graft with the skeletonized gastroepiploic artery and the radial artery ensured sufficient caliber size and length for myocardial revascularization on inferior, posterolateral, and lateral ventricular walls. This composite graft can be used safely and effectively even in off-pump coronary bypass surgery with excellent early clinical and angiographic outcome in selected patients, although longer follow-up periods are necessary to draw definitive conclusions.
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Kanazawa University Hospital, Takaramachi, Japan. hkamiya88@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kamiya
authors.forename: Go
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takemura
authors.forename: Shigeyuki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagamine
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanamori
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D024405:Gastroepiploic Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008323:Mammary Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D012086:Reoperation; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome