Aortocoronary saphenous vein graft aneurysms are a rare phenomenon with an estimated incidence of 0.07%, though this likely underestimates the true number as they often remain clinically silent.
Aortocoronary saphenous vein graft aneurysms are rare and often clinically silent, leading to a limited understanding of their epidemiology and pathogenesis.
D espite ongoing advances in percutaneous revasculariza- tion, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) continues to be performed in a large number of patients, with 400 000 operations reported in 2007 in the United States alone. First described by Riahi and colleagues 2 in 1975, aneurysmal dilatation of aortocoronary SVGs remains a rare yet widely reported phenomenon. Indeed, subsequent literature on the topic consists almost exclusively of case reports and small case series. Thus, the precise incidence of aortocoronary SVG aneurysms (SVGAs) remains difficult to ascertain, although in 1 case series, an incidence of 0.07% was estimated from a review of 5500 grafts at a single institution. 3 However, this likely underestimates the true number because SVGAs often remain clinically silent and no guidelines exist to screen for their development. Given the infrequent identification of SVGAs, our current understanding of the epidemiology and pathogenesis of these aneurysms remains limited.
Ramirez et al. (2012) conducted a review in Aortocoronary Saphenous Vein Graft Aneurysms. Aortocoronary saphenous vein graft aneurysms are a rare phenomenon with an estimated incidence of 0.07%, though this likely underestimates the true number as they often remain clinically silent.