Proximal Coronary-Artery Obstruction

THE correction of coronary-artery obliterative disease remains one of the most challenging and as yet unrealized goals in cardiac surgery. Although many operations to supply blood to the myocardium distal to obstructed coronary arteries have been advocated,1 , 2 none have found an established place in the vascular surgeon's armamentarium. The direct surgical approaches to the problem by Bailey arid May3 and Cannon and Longmire4 , 5 in 1957 and 1958 were thus greeted with great enthusiasm arid widespread interest. However, after initial promise, few successful applications of the direct endarterectomy approach to obstruction of the coronary artery have been reported.6 This appears to . . .