The use of internal mammary vein in coronary artery surgery

Abstract

Arterial revascularization, and in particular, left internal mammary artery (LIMA), has shown to improve survival of patients with coronary artery disease. Complete revascularization often requires the use of other grafts and saphenous vein graft is still the most common conduit used. Several other types of grafts have been utilized during revascularization, including the radial artery and gastroepiploic artery. It is recognized that its venous structure can change when submitted to long‐term blood pressure regimen. We, herein, report left internal mammary vein (LIMV) utilized as a novel conduit for coronary artery revascularization, that was patent after 6 years. LIMV is an easy graft to harvest if the LIMA is dissected as a pedicle. The long‐term patency of LIMV is unknown, but its usage could be suggested for elderly patients with peripheral vascular disease, when long graft patency is not required

Revascularization Modalities in Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Review of the Current State of Evidence

“…The two main types of commonly used autologous arterial and venous grafts are left internal mammary artery (LIMA) and saphenous vein (SV) grafts, respectively [17]. LIMA is typically grafted directly from its origin to the coronary artery beyond the blockage, whereas the SV is anastomosed proximally to the aorta and distally to a coronary artery downstream from the blockage.…”