Does intraoperative blood flow predict graft patency in patients undergoing aortocoronary venous bypass grafting?
Intraoperative blood flow measurements strongly predict venous bypass graft patency, with flows >45 ml/min ensuring patency and ≤20 ml/min predicting occlusion.
Intraoperative measurements of blood flow were made in 70 patients in whom a total of 103 venous bypass grafts had been inserted from the aorta to the right, the left anterior descending, or the circumflex coronary artery. Cineangiographic evaluation of graft patency was performed in all patients. Overall patency rate was 90.3%. Flow in all bypass grafts averaged 68 ml/min. All grafts with flow of 20 ml or less or which failed to respond to the injection of 20 mg of papaverine became occluded. All grafts with flow greater than 45 ml/min remained open.
Grondin et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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