Why the study?
Does bilateral internal-thoracic-artery grafting reduce mortality or cardiovascular events compared to single internal-thoracic-artery grafting in patients undergoing CABG?
Does bilateral internal-thoracic-artery grafting reduce mortality or cardiovascular events compared to single internal-thoracic-artery grafting in patients undergoing CABG?
At 5 years of follow-up, bilateral internal-thoracic-artery grafting does not improve mortality or cardiovascular event rates compared to single grafting, but is associated with an increased risk of sternal wound complications.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Bilateral grafting shows no 5-year mortality or event benefit versus single grafting and raises sternal wound risk; challenges routine use in CABG.
Among patients undergoing CABG, there was no significant difference between those receiving single internal-thoracic-artery grafts and those receiving bilateral internal-thoracic-artery grafts with regard to mortality or the rates of cardiovascular events at 5 years of follow-up. There were more sternal wound complications with bilateral internal-thoracic-artery grafting than with single internal-thoracic-artery grafting. Ten-year follow-up is ongoing. (Funded by the British Heart Foundation and others; ART Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN46552265 .).
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Taggart et al. (2016) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: