Internal Mammary Artery–saphenous Vein Y Anastomosis in Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting – Is there a Possibility of Coronary Steal?

Recent advances in coronary revascularization include total arterial grafting, however, in a few cases, harvesting the right internal thoracic artery (RITA) is not possible due to various reasons. In such cases, where the aorta is also calcified, few surgeons perform Y anastomosis configuration with the left internal thoracic artery(LITA) and saphenous vein which can have disastrous complications. Our patient is a 65-year-old man who was diagnosed with multivessel coronary disease and presented with a coronary steal during coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. The RITA was not harvested due to osteoporosis sternum. LITA-saphenous vein Y anastomosis configuration was done as the aorta was calcified. The anastomosis was done between the LITA to the left anterior descending (LAD) artery and the Y arm saphenous vein was anastomosed to an obtuse marginal (OM)branch. He developed coronary steal following anastomosis of the Y graft to the OM branch. The patient had ischemic changes inside the operation theatre in LAD territory, hence grafts were revised following which the patient became stable. There is a high possibility of a coronary steal when the caliber of the Y arm does not match with the LITA. LITA-saphenous vein Y anastomosis can cause more complications as the saphenous vein is much bigger in caliber compared to the LITA.