Long arteriotomy bridging a stenotic plaque or segment may improve runoff in diffuse coronary artery disease. However, patency might be impaired due to vascular wall pathology. Objective: To determine the patency rates of plaque-bridging arteriotomy compared to conventional coronary artery bypass grafting. Methods: Between May 1995 and December 1998, 104 patients with a mean age of 65 ± 7 years received a long arteriotomy extending over a heavily plaqued area in an effort to treat their diffuse coronary artery disease. The length of the arteriotomy ranged from 14 mm to 40 mm. We retrospectively analyzed the intra-individual bypass graft patency rates by multidetector-computed tomography or coronary angiography. Results: The mean follow-up was 5 years. There were 5 (4.8 %) early and 10 (9.6 %) late deaths, three non-cardiovascular. Graft patency for internal thoracic artery (ITA) to left anterior descending artery (LAD) (plaque-bridging) was 94.8 %, for saphenous vein graft (SVG) to circumflex artery (CX) (plaque-bridging) 67 %, and SVG to right coronary artery (RCA) (plaque-bridging) 79.5 %. Graft patency for ITA to LAD (conventional) was 94.9 %, for SVG to CX (conventional) 72.4 %, and SVG to RCA (conventional) 75 %. Freedom from angina was 82.8 % (n = 58/70), freedom from myocardial infarction was 95.7 % (n = 67/70), freedom from reintervention was 91.4 % (n = 64/70) and freedom from reoperation was 100 % (n = 70/70). Conclusion: Diffuse coronary artery disease can be treated by extending the arteriotomy over the plaques, with graft patency rates comparable to bypass grafts onto less diseased segments.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Doss et al. (2003) studied this question.