OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate our experience with the myocardial revascularization using the implantation of left internal mammary artery. This procedure was proposed by Vineberg, in 1946. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From August 1994 to September 1998, 10 patients were operated on, all of them had the left internal mammary artery implanted in the anterolateral part of the wall of the left ventricle and all of them had a saphenous vein bypass graft. The age of the patients ranged from 42 years to 73 years with the prevalence of males. All patients had a diffuse and severe coronary artery disease mainly of the interventricular (descending) anterior artery, but with myocardial viability. The indication for internal mammary implantation was made during the procedure, because the techniques as saphenous vein bypass or endarterectomy were not considered applicable to these cases. RESULTS: All the patients were very well in the post operative period; from 45 days to 23 months, coronariography study were performed on nine patients, showing the implanted internal mammary artery arborizing and communicating with the native coronary arteries. CONCLUSION: The internal mammary artery implanted in a viable myocardium should have its place on myocardial revascularization treatment, in selected cases. Nowadays, observing the misinterpretation on the past papers, we can select the patients with appropriate indication for this technique, obtained good results. The Vineberg technique needs more experience to define the evaluation of its real effectiveness.
Thoracic artery implantation; Myocardial revascularization; Cardiovascular surgical procedure; Cardiac surgical procedures; Coronary vessels; Thoracic arteries
