The no-touch saphenous vein for coronary artery bypass grafting maintains a patency, after 16 years, comparable to the left internal thoracic artery: A randomized trial.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigates whether the no-touch (NT) vein graft, at a mean time of 16 years, maintains a significantly higher patency rate than conventional (C) vein grafts and still has patency comparable to that of the left internal thoracic artery (LITA).


METHODS
A total of 156 patients accepted for coronary artery bypass grafting were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 groups. In the C group, the saphenous vein (SV) was stripped and distended. In the intermediate group, the SV was stripped but not distended. In the NT group, the SV was neither stripped nor distended, but rather harvested with a fat pedicle. This study is an angiographic follow-up of the C and NT groups, at a mean time of 16 years postoperatively.


RESULTS
Fifty-four patients were included (C group = 27; NT group = 27). In all, 72 and 75 vein grafts were completed in groups C and NT, respectively. Crude SV graft patency was 64% in the C group versus 83% in the NT group (P = .03), which was similar to the patency of the LITA (88%). The harvesting technique had a major impact on the patency with a hazard ratio for occlusion of 1.83 for the C group (P = .04).


CONCLUSIONS
Harvesting the SV with the NT technique conferred, at a mean time of 16 years, a significantly higher patency than the conventional technique that was still comparable to that of the LITA.
Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
Ninos
N
Samano
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
Håkan
H
Geijer
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
Mats
M
Liden
Division of Cardiac Surgery, Schulich Heart Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Stephen
S
Fremes
Intervention and Implementation Research, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Lennart
L
Bodin
Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden. Electronic address: domingos.ramosdesouza@regionorebrolan.se.
Domingos
D
Souza
D000368:Aged; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008323:Mammary Arteries / Q000637:transplantation*; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000637:transplantation*; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013997:Time Factors; D014654:Vascular Patency
coronary artery bypass grafting; left internal thoracic artery; saphenous vein graft