Radial artery in re-do coronary artery bypass grafting: our experience

We evaluated our experience with the use of the radial artery as a key conduit in re-do coronary artery bypass surgery to determine the safety and efficacy and to compare this procedure to re-operations performed without the radial artery. Sixty-eight patients operated on re-do revascularization were studied: mean age was 67 years; 42 patients were in CCS III (62%) and 18 in CCS IV (26%); past myocardial infarction occurred in 12 patients (18%). We performed 116 anastomoses in all 68 patients (mean no. anastomoses/patient 1.7). Perioperative mortality was 4.4%. Three patients (4.4%) showed a transient postoperative low cardiac output syndrome; four (5.8%) had a respiratory failure and an acute renal failure occurred in 2 patients (2.9%). Four patients (5.8%) required re-operation for bleeding. The comparison of the radial re-do group (27 patients) with the non-radial re-do group (41 patients) showed a lower mortality and morbidity in the former, even if p value was not significant. We conclude that the use of the radial artery in re-do coronary operations is safe, effective, allowing an additional conduit choice and may avoid late vein graft failure.