OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the midterm benefits of exclusive use of arterial grafts in patients with triple vessel coronary arteriosclerotic disease who underwent complete myocardial revascularization. METHOD: Between July 1995 and July 1997, 137 consecutive patients with triple vessel coronary atherosclerotic disease underwent complete myocardial revascularization exclusively using arterial grafts. Of these patients, 112 (81.7%) were male and the ages ranged from 36 to 78 years old (mean 56.5 years). Three hundred and sixty-three arterial grafts were used to perform 442 coronary anastomoses; an average of 3.2 coronary anastomoses per patient. Arterial grafts used were left internal thoracic artery (99.3%), right internal thoracic artery (56.2%), radial artery (94.9%), right gastroepiploic artery (13.9%) and inferior epigastric artery (0.7%). In 80 (58.4%) patients, arterial composite "Y" grafts were constructed with the left internal thoracic artery and another arterial graft. RESULTS: No operative deaths occurred. Four (2.9%) deaths occurred in the post-operative period and only one (0.7%) patient needed reoperation in the early follow-up. The 7 year actuarial survival was 94.0% and the event free probability (myocardial infarction, angioplasty, reoperation or death) was 87.0%. CONCLUSIONS: Good early and midterm clinical follow-ups can be achieved by exclusively using arterial grafts in the complete myocardial revascularization of patients with triple vessel coronary arteriosclerotic disease. A long-term follow-up will be necessary to show the influence of exclusive use of arterial grafts in the surgical treatment of coronary insufficiency.
Myocardial revascularization; Mammary arteries; Arteriosclerosis
