The authors present their experience over a period of 30 months with 385 patients submitted to myocardial revascularization procedures using only arterial grafts. Eight patients had already been revascularized: 114 (29.6%) had lesions just in one coronary artery, 118 (30.6%) in two arteries and 153 (39.7%) in three or more arteries. The left internal thoracic artery was preferably used for bypassing the anterior interventricular branch. The right internal thoracic artery was used "in situ" for the right coronary artery and its branches or as a free graft from the aorta or even in artificial "Y" from the left internal thoracic artery to the diagonal and marginal branches of the left coronary artery. Other arteries such as the radial artery were used in 215 (55.8%). The right gastroepiploic artery in 24 (6.3%) and the inferior epigastric artery in 4 (1.1%) patients. Summing up, 809 arterial grafts were used in that group of patients and in 839 anastomoses to the coronary arteries. In patients with lesions in three coronary arteries the average of revascularized arteries was 3.2 for each patient. There were no intra-operative deaths. Seven (1.8%) patients died during their stay in the hospital but only 3 (42.8%) of them presented low cardiac output. The authors also emphasize the advantages of using just arterial grafts in a selected group of patients especially young ones. This conclusion is based on the low incidence of morbimortality observed in that group and also due to the well-known superiority of arterial grafts as the internal thoracic arteries which present a high percentage of patency over the years and also make possible a composition with other arterial grafts.
Myocardial revascularization; Arteries; Thoracic arteries
