Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting using in situ bilateral skeletonized internal thoracic arteries.
OBJECTIVE
All arterial off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) with in situ bilateral skeletonized internal thoracic arteries (ITAs) may become a standard procedure that would provide better long-term results without affecting early results.


METHODS
Our study included 404 consecutive patients who underwent OPCAB with one or two ITAs. We compared the clinical results of 135 patients who underwent OPCAB using unilateral ITA (UITA group) to those of 269 patients using bilateral ITAs (BITA group).


RESULTS
The average number of distal anastomoses was 3.07 in the UITA group and 3.47 in the BITA group (P < 0.01). Four operative mortalities occurred in the UITA group and two in the BITA group. There were no significant differences in morbidity between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
OPCAB using bilateral skeletonized ITAs is technically feasible, with good early results. Arterial OPCAB using in situ bilateral skeletonized ITAs may become a standard procedure in the future.
Suzuki
Tomoaki
T
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Shiga University of Medical Science, Setatsukinowa, Ootsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan. suzukit@belle.shiga-med.ac.jp
Asai
Tohru
T
Matsubayashi
Keiji
K
Kambara
Atsushi
A
Ikegami
Hirohisa
H
Kinoshita
Takeshi
T
Nishimura
Osamu
O
D000368:Aged; D047549:Coronary Artery Bypass, Off-Pump / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008323:Mammary Arteries / Q000637:transplantation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome