title: Total arterial coronary bypass: long-term results.
abstract: Three groups of consecutive patients who had undergone primary elective coronary artery bypass operations were compared at 10 to 20 years of follow-up (mean, 13.6 years), in order to test the supposition that arterial conduits provide better long-term outcome than do the "standard" left internal mammary-to-left anterior descending coronary artery plus saphenous vein bypasses. The arterial group was split into groups A (all arterial) and B (2 or more arterial grafts, plus saphenous vein grafts). Control group C comprised the standard operations. The absence of saphenous vein conduit in group A was associated with fewer angiograms for symptoms, fewer reinterventions, and fewer cardiac deaths than those experienced in groups B and C. We conclude that the survival and cardiac quality-of-life advantage found in group A is attributable to the exclusive use of arterial conduits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Scott and White Clinic and Memorial Hospital, Texas A&M University Health Science Center College of Medicine, Temple, Texas 76508, USA. korompai@msn.com
authors.forename: Ferenc L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Korompai
authors.forename: Wade L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Knight
mesh_terms: D001158:Arteries / Q000637:transplantation*; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007387:Internal Mammary-Coronary Artery Anastomosis; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000637:transplantation; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors