title: Comparison of patency between radial artery and saphenous vein in a coronary artery bypass grafting post operative with return of the symptoms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the radial artery and saphenous vein's patency in patients with recurrence of symptoms in a coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study. From January 1998 to December 2005, 469 CABGs were performed using the radial artery as a graft, in Vera Cruz Hospital in Belo Horizonte/ MG. Among the patients who underwent those surgeries, 94 presented ischemic changes in early or late postoperative period, which led them to be re-evaluated by coronary angiography. The grafts were divided in three groups: internal thoracic artery (ITA), radial artery (RA) and saphenous vein (SV), and they were stratified according to the severity of injury: uninjured or patent (< 70%), severe obstruction (70 to 99%) and occlusion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the 94 patients in the study, 86 grafts of ITA, 94 of RA and 111 of SV were used. For the 86 ITA grafts, 73 (84.88%) were found patent. For the 94 RA grafts, 55 (58.51%) were found patent, and for the 111 SV grafts, 73 (65.76%) were uninjured. A statistically significant difference (P= 0.001) was found between RA and SV grafts, with a higher patency found for VS graft. For the RA grafts, women presented a worse result concerning the RA patency (65.7% and 40.7%), with P = 0.006. Concerning coronary revascularization, a statistically significant difference was found only for the grafts used for the right coronary, with a better result for the SV (P = 0.036).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Radial artery (RA) presented worse results when compared to Saphenous vein (SV) as a second graft in a CABG, especially in women who were anastomosed in the right coronary artery.
authors.affiliation: SBCCV, Hospital Vera Cruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. herberthortmann@gmail.com
authors.forename: Herbert Coelho
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Hortmann
authors.forename: Homero Geraldo de
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Renato Rocha
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Rabello
authors.forename: Eduardo Augusto Victor
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Sérgio Caporali de
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D023903:Coronary Restenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000637:transplantation; D011859:Radiography; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000637:transplantation; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014654:Vascular Patency / Q000502:physiology