title: Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting is a safe and effective treatment modality for Asian patients requiring coronary revascularisation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCABG) is gaining widespread acceptance as the preferred choice for myocardial revascularisation. However, no definite data exist as to whether it is better than conventional CABG. We aimed to study the efficacy of the procedure in our patients, which constituted of a predominantly Asian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January 2000 and December 2002, 1062 patients underwent isolated coronary artery bypass in our institution. 184 patients (17.3 percent) underwent OPCABG. Patients were preoperatively prospectively risk stratified under the EuroSCORE risk assessment model under high, medium and low risk classes thereby making them comparable. Post-operative complications, intensive care unit stay, hospital stay, types of grafts done were then analysed in these different risk classes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The incidence of off-pump procedures showed a gradual increase over the last three years in this institution. A reduction in the number of post-operative complications, hospital stay, intensive care unit stay and mortality in the off-pump group was observed. Certain differences were found to be statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Off-pump CABG is a safe and viable alternative to conventional CABG as a treatment modality for surgical coronary revascularisation.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119074.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ashok
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nishkantha
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: El-Oakley
authors.forename: C T T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: E K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Sim
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D047549:Coronary Artery Bypass, Off-Pump / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007902:Length of Stay; D009204:Myocardial Revascularization / Q000379:methods*; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment