Benefit of Bilateral Over Single Internal Mammary Artery Grafts for Multiple Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

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Abstract
Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of bilateral internal mammary artery (BIMA) grafts in isolated CABG. Methods and Results Beginning in April 1985, elective primary multiple CABG for multivessel disease was performed in 1131 patients. The early and late results of 688 patients who received single internal mammary artery (SIMA) grafts and 443 patients who received BIMA grafts were compared (median follow-up, 6.15 years). Hospital mortality was not significantly different in the SIMA (0.9%) and BIMA (0.9%) groups. Graft patency was 97.3% in the BIMA group and 94.3% in the SIMA group (P0.4 and age P=0.0499). Conclusions Our data suggest that the use of BIMA grafts in patients with in situ coronary artery anastomoses achieves a significantly higher repeated CABG–free rate in all patients compared with the use of SIMA.