title: Reoperations in patients with patent left internal mammary artery.
abstract: In the past decade the rate of reoperative coronary bypass grafting has averaged 8%. In these patients adequate myocardial protection is often difficult because delivery of cardioplegia is frequently suboptimal when the internal mammary artery graft is patent. We describe a simple technique for performing cardiac reoperation in patients with a patent left internal mammary artery graft through a balloon catheter used for angioplasty and positioned in the left internal mammary artery graft. Our study included 3 patients and there were no operative deaths and complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, "La Sapienza" University, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roscitano
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Capuano
authors.forename: Euclide
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tonelli
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sinatra
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017130:Angioplasty / Q000379:methods*; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007387:Internal Mammary-Coronary Artery Anastomosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D012086:Reoperation / Q000379:methods; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014654:Vascular Patency