Radial artery as conduit is safe and effective in coronary bypass surgery in the elderly: single-central results from 326 patients.
BACKGROUND
As an increasing number of aging patients are being referred for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), the radial artery (RA) has gained increasing popularity as a conduit. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of RA in CABG for the elderly with coronary heart disease.


RESULTS
Three hundred and twenty-six elderly patients underwent CABG with RA harvesting between January 2000 and June 2008. A total of 377 RA as grafts were collected. The mean number of distal anastomoses per patient was 3.1 while the mean for RA was 1.1. The operative mortality was 3.1%. Twenty patients developed atrial fibrillation, 7 experienced acute renal failure, 9 had neurological accidents, and 4 had myocardial infarction. There was no ischemic complication on hand. Paresthesia in the donor hand was found in 2 patients. A complete follow up was obtained in 77.2% of patients, with a mean time of 53.5 +/-35.9 months. RA patency displayed by coronary angiography was 95.83% after a mean time of 74 months of follow up.


CONCLUSIONS
It was proven to be safe and effective to use RA as a secondary arterial graft after the left internal mammary artery in the elderly patients.
Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Xujun
X
Chen
Xin
X
Chen
Donghua
D
Xie
Fanrong
F
Meng
Kaihu
K
Shi
Ming
M
Xu
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000792:Angiography; D001011:Aorta / Q000601:surgery; D002681:China; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008323:Mammary Arteries / Q000601:surgery; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome