Introduction
The saphenous vein (SV) is still the most commonly used secondary
conduit for myocardial revascularization even though it has
disadvantages of declining patency with time and resultant worse
clinical outcomes compared with patency and outcomes of the internal
thoracic artery (ITA) conduit [1]. Of numerous efforts to overcome
the structural and functional limitations of SV conduit, the
“no-touch” SV (NT SV) harvesting technique with or without a
surrounding pedicle tissue and the surgical strategy of using the NT SV
as part of a composite graft based on the left ITA have demonstrated
good SV conduit patency rates comparable to arterial conduit patency
rates [2-4]. Another recent study from our group demonstrated that
NT SV conduits harvested with pedicle tissue further improved the early
and 1-year patency of SV composite grafts, compared with NT SV conduits
harvested without pedicle tissue [5]. When investigating the serial
angiograms of NT SV composite grafts, we observed reopening cases of
previously occluded NT SV conduits that were not reported in the
literature.
The aims of the present study were (1) to assess the occlusion rates of
NT
SV
composite grafts as seen
in early postoperative angiograms;
(2) to re-evaluate the occluded NT
SV composite grafts by 1-year
postoperative angiography; and (3)
to elucidate the mechanism of NT SV composite graft reopening found
during 1-year follow-up.