TECHNICAL NOTES  CARDIAC PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 1999 August;40(4):553-4

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Internal mammary artery grafts and competitive flow. Controversies persist

Gaudino M., Bruno P., Piancone F. L., Pragliola C., Manzoli A.*, Possati G.

From the Department of Cardiac Surgery and * Cardiology Catholic University, Rome, Italy

We ­report one ­case in ­which chron­ic ­native com­pet­i­tive ­flow ­from an ­almost nor­mal tar­get cor­o­nary ­artery did not influ­ence IMA ­graft paten­cy. This ­patient under­went con­trol ­postoper­a­tive angio­gra­phy 11 ­months ­after sur­gery and the mam­mary ­artery-left ante­ri­or descend­ing ­graft was ­found to be nor­mo­func­tion­ing ­despite the ­fact ­that the cor­o­nary ­artery ­showed no resid­u­al sten­o­sis.