BACKGROUND: Myocardial revascularization without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has been used as an alternative for treatment of coronary insufficiency. OBJECTIVE: To present our experience with this procedure describing the technique used and our initial results. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-three patients were submitted to myocardial revascularization without CPB. The patients selected for this study had lesions in the coronary arteries of the anterodiaphragmatic cardiac region. The main surgical indication was chronic coronary insufficiency (78.3%). 65% of the patients were male, with age between 44-80 (mean - 59.6 years). The surgical approach in all patients was through median sternotomy. He grafts used were internal thoracic arteries, saphenous vein and radial artery. RESULTS: Mean surgical time was 3:15 hours. There were no intra-operative occurences. The number of grafts was 1 to 3 in each patient (mean 1.56 graft/patient) out of a total of 36 grafts. The left internal thoracic artery was the most used graft (41.7%). The most frequently revascularized coronary arteries were the anterior interventricular branch (52.8%) and the right coronary (30.5%). Hospital mortality and post-operative infarct were 4.3%. There were no neurological, pulmonary, renal, hemorragic or infectious complications. The mean hospital stay was 7 days. CONCLUSION: Myocardial revascularization without cardiopulmonary bypass is an effective and safe technique that can be utilized in selected cases with low morbidity and mortality, reducing costs and hospital stay.
Myocardial revascularization; Extracorporeal circulation; Heart disease; surgery
