Does internal-mammary-artery ligation improve symptoms in patients with coronary insufficiency?
This historical report describes early observations on the use of internal-mammary-artery ligation as a surgical therapy for coronary insufficiency.
THIS report is a summary of observations made in an attempt to evaluate internal-mammary-artery ligation as a method of therapy for coronary insufficiency. Angina pectoris, myocardial ischemia and infarction, and major arrhythmias are regarded in this study as variable sequelae to inadequate coronary-artery inflow.Case ReportsCase 1. M.B., an 80-year-old woman, had a 6 months' history of increasingly severe anginal pain radiating from the precordium to the left shoulder, accompanied by regurgitation of frothy mucus. Fluoroscopically, the heart was grossly enlarged, with pulsations barely visible, and there was variable cardiospasm of the distal esophagus. An electrocardiogram gave evidence of . . .
Ralph Adams (1958) studied this question.