The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 84, 843-848, Copyright © 1982 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Use of operative transluminal coronary angioplasty as an adjunct to coronary artery bypass
E Wallsh, AJ Franzone, GS Weinstein, K Alcan, A Clavel and SH Stertzer
Operative transluminal coronary angioplasty (OCTA) was used to improve
coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) runoff in patients having complex
segmental and diffuse coronary artery obstructions. OTCA was performed
during CABG through the bypass arteriotomy on 64 arteries in 58 patients.
An angioplasty system specifically designed for operative use was employed.
In 13 cases, angioplasty was performed both proximal and distal to the
coronary arteriotomy, for a total of 77 angioplasty sites. Elective restudy
was performed on 36 angioplasty sites in 28 arteries in 24 patients:
Sixteen patients were restudied between 18 and 21 days (mean 16) and eight
between 4 and 32 months (mean 20.5). Patency rate, as assessed at each
angioplasty site, was 86.1% (20/24 studied early and 11/12 studied late).
Three coronary perforations (4.7%) occurred and were repaired without
perioperative infarction or other sequelae. The one operative death (1.7%)
occurred in a patient with preoperative refractory cardiogenic shock. There
were seven perioperative infarctions (12.1%), of which three (4.7%) were in
the distribution of the coronary artery undergoing OTCA. The favorable
short-term and medium-term patency rates indicate that OTCA is a useful
adjunct to CABG that permits more complete revascularization of small or
diffusely diseased coronary arteries.