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a Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
b Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Seoul Adventist Hospital, Seoul, South Korea
Accepted for publication June 2, 2008.
* Address correspondence to Dr Lee, Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 135-710, South Korea (Email: ytlee55{at}yahoo.com).
| Abstract |
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Methods: From March 2001 to September 2007, 512 consecutive patients with triple-vessel disease underwent total arterial revascularization with off-pump and aortic no-touch technique, using BITA or the right gastroepiploic artery (RGEA) in addition to BITA. Only BITA grafts were used for bypass to coronary arteries in 353 patients, and additionally in situ RGEA was bypassed to right coronary arteries in 159 patients. The mean number of distal anastomoses was 4.15 ± 0.8 per patient.
Results: One 30-day death occurred. Deep sternal wound infection occurred in 2 patients. The rate of perioperative stroke was 0.8%. The patients were followed for as long as 6 years (mean follow-up, 37.9 ± 17.7 months). The 1-year and 5-year actuarial freedom from cardiac death was 98.3% and 96.7%, respectively. The 1-year and 5-year actuarial freedom from cardiac events was 97.1% and 89.3%, respectively. Using RGEA was a significant predictor of cardiac event–free survival (p = 0.046).
Conclusions: Total arterial revascularization using off-pump coronary bypass and aortic no-touch techniqe with BITA grafts was safe and effective, with low mortality among patients with triple-vessel disease. Patients undergoing in-situ RGEA grafting for right coronary arteries appeared to have fewer cardiac events than did patients undergoing only BITA grafting in triple-vessel disease.
| Introduction |
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Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCABG) combined with aorta no-touch technique has been accepted as an effective procedure to avoid neurologic and aortic complications, and to reduce operative risks. For this procedure, surgeons can use arterial grafts, in an in-situ pattern, or a composite graft and free grafts. In the cases where the left anterior descending coronary artery is bypassed with an in-situ right ITA (RITA), problems can occur if reoperation is needed.
All of the left coronary artery can be bypassed with BITAs, but it is not always possible to bypass the left and right coronary artery (RCA) in triple-vessel disease, even when using a composite graft technique. Bypassing the RCA with an in-situ right gastroepiploic artery (RGEA) is an alternative option in that case. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes among patients who have undergone total arterial revascularization using BITA with off-pump and aorta no-touch technique in triple-vessel disease.
| Material and Methods |
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Surgical Technique
The ITAs were prepared by the skeletonization technique with sharp dissection and clipping of the branches. The RGEA was prepared in a pedicled manner. We did not use a Harmonic Scalpel. After dividing the distal end of the RGEA, diluting papaverine (1 mg/mL) solution was injected intraluminally, then the distal end of the RGEA was clipped to prevent spasm. Heparin was given at a dose of 150 IU/kg to achieve a target activated clotting time of 300 s or more. After the pericardium was opened, the RITA was anastomosed to the left side of the left ITA (LITA) with a continuous running suture to form a Y anastomosis with 8-0 Prolene suture (Ethicon, Piscataway, NJ). Then the distal end of the ITA grafts was clipped for pressure dilatation. Our strategy was to revascularize the collateral arteries first, but in most cases, the LITA was anastomosed to the left anterior descending coronary artery and its branches first, and then the RITA was sequentially anastomosed to the left circumflex artery. Next, the RCA system was subsequently revascularized with either the RITA or the RGEA. All anastomoses were performed with either the Medtronic Octopus (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) or the Axius (Guidant, Santa Clara, CA) off-pump system. A deep pericardial stay suture was not used.
To obtain a bloodless field, the target coronary artery was occluded proximally using a 5-0 Prolene suture with a needle,16 mm in diameter, passed deeply to the surrounding vessels. The needle, after the first bite, was passed through the wall of a small piece of silicone tubing. In addition to a proximal snare suture, we routinely used a carbon dioxide blower. An intraluminal shunt was sometimes used for grafting the distal RCA or intramyocardial coronary artery. Each anastomosis was performed with an 8-0 Prolene running suture. The quality of the anastomosis sites was evaluated by recording postoperative transit-time flow rate with a Transonic Flowmeter (Transonic Systems, Ithaca, NY). Heparin was partially reversed with protamine sulfate (0.5 mg/kg).
Statistical Analysis
Continuous variables are reported as the mean ± SD. Continuous variables were compared by Student t test and paired t test. Discrete variables were compared by the Pearson
2 test or Fisher's exact test. Cardiac death included in-hospital mortality, cardiogenic death, and sudden death. Cardiac event–free survival, freedom from late death, freedom from cardiac death, freedom from reintervention, freedom from recurrent angina, and freedom from myocardial infarction were calculated by means of the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to compare the curves. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the cardiac event–free survival. The univariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze patient preoperative and operative factors. Preoperative factors included age (
70 years old), female sex, renal failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, peripheral vascular disease, previous myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, previous percutaneous coronary intervention, and ejection fraction (< 0.40). In addition, the operative factors included RGEA use, new arrhythmia, reoperation for bleeding, neurologic complications, and wound complications. Factors with a probability of 0.25 were entered into the multivariate Cox proportional hazard model. The hazard ratio (HR), with a 95% confidence interval (CI) and the levels of statistical significance (p value) were calculated. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 12.0 (SPSS, Chicago, Illinois).
| Results |
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| Comment |
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When all target vessels in triple-vessel disease were bypassed with a composite ITA graft, a major concern was that the single attached LITA would not be able to supply enough blood to the revascularized myocardium. However, reports show that hypoperfusion was rare, and total arterial revascularization using a composite graft provided a 2.3-fold increase of reserve blood flow to the coronary vascular bed through the grafts [6, 7]. Long-term clinical and angiographic results as well as early postoperative stress myocardial perfusion were reported to be similar for BITA used either in situ or as a composite graft [8, 9]. Pevni and colleagues [10] reported that early and midterm results in patients undergoing left-sided BITA grafting were not affected by the conduit used for RCA grafting with comparing RITA and RGEA. But long-term outcome of total arterial revascularization using BITA and RGEA was reported to be excellent [2, 11]. It was reported that the reoperation rate for graft failure was significantly higher when the in situ RITA graft was used for the right coronary artery than when the in situ GEA was used [12].
In our study, the 34 patients reported a return of angina, but graft failure including significant stenosis of the anastomosis site was demonstrated in only 6 patients on the coronary angiogram. In the others, except 1 patient whose native coronary stenosis had progressed, competitive flow patterns were observed. Using RGEA graft was a significant predictor of cardiac event–free survival. We assumed that the blood stream by only LITA might cause the recurrent angina because it did not sufficiently supply the myocardium. We previously reported early angiographic findings for patients with patients with triple-vessel disease who underwent revascularization with only BITA grafts [13]. We observed competitive flow patterns in 10.5% of the distal anastomosis sites. The number of distal anastomoses and the degree of proximal coronary stenosis were identified as predisposing factors for competitive flow [3, 14]. In our study, considering fewer distal anastomoses with BITA grafts were performed when RGEA grafts were used (3.39 ± 0.9 versus 4.04 ± 0.7, p < 0.001), and a competitive flow pattern was more likely to occur in patients, only BITA were used.
Deep sternal infection occurred in 2 patients (0.4%), although BITA were used even in diabetic patients, accounting for more than 40% of this study. Recently, OPCABG with a skeletonizing ITA harvesting technique was reported as a factor to reduce deep sternal wound infection [15]. We routinely irrigated the mediastium with saline before sternal closure and used more than 10 wires to close the sternum.
Harvest of the RGEA requires a laparotomy, which can be performed 2 to 3 cm lower with extension of the median sternotomy incision. The RGEA was prepared to reach the coronary target through the anterogastric course. Although the anterogastric course is a longer route than the retrogastric course, it is easier to control bleeding and prevent torsion of the graft. Preparation for the RGEA graft and closure of the peritoneum after control of bleeding usually take about 40 minutes at our hospital. The RGEA size is associated with a wide interindividual variation, and spasm of the graft frequently occurs during harvesting. We did not discard the RGEA graft unless the diameter of the graft at the anastomotic site was less than 2.0 mm and atheroma was found on the graft. The RGEA graft could be applied in about 90% of attempted cases.
In conclusion, total arterial revascularization using OPCABG and aortic no-touch techniqe with BITA grafts was safe and effective, with low mortality among patients with triple-vessel disease. Patients undergoing in-situ RGEA grafting appeared to have fewer cardiac events than did patients undergoing only BITA grafting in triple-vessel disease.
Limitations
This study had a retrospective and nonrandom design. We did not routinely perform preoperative and postoperative myocardial perfusion testing; therefore, we could not determine competitive flow patterns to contribute to myocardial ischemia. Furthermore, the follow-up was too short to draw a definite conclusion.
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