Aortocoronary bypass graft patency assessed by coronary computed tomography angiography--unicentric study

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is used to revascularize ischemic myocaydium affected by coronary artery obstruction. Conventional coronary angiography (CCA) is an invasive method used for graft evaluation. Nowadays, in post CABG patients grafts can be assessed noninvasively by using coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). To determine the late patency rate in coronary bypass grafts using CCTA. To assess graft patency, sixty post CABG patients (51/60 males and 9/60 females) were evaluated using dual source computed tomography (DSCT) angiography. All patients underwent a primary isolated CABG surgery between January 2000 and December 2004, performed by a single surgeon, at the Dartment of Cardiovascular Surgery, "Prof. Dr. George I. M. Georgescu" Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, Iaşi, Romania. The grafts were classified as patent, occluded and stenotic (stenosis >50%). The mean age of patients was 68.05-7.59 years and the mean time after graft implantation was 129.53-16.74 months. The number of assessed grafts was 200, including 146 saphenous vein grafts (SVG) and 54 in situ left internal mammary artery (LIMA) grafts. A total number of 105/146 (71.92%) venous grafts and 52/54 (96.3%) arterial grafts were patent. Nowadays, computed tomography angiography is a modern noninvasive imaging modality used to evaluate the aortocoronary graft patency in early and late postoperative settings. In our study, the late saphenous graft patency rate was superior to that found in earlier angiographic studies.