SEMISELECTIVE ANGIOGRAPHY OF THE INTERNAL MAMMARY ARTERIES AS A PREPARATION FOR CORONARY-BYPASS SURGERY

Internal mammary artery grafting in coronary artery bypass surgery has resulted in increased long-term patency and improved survival compared to venous bypass grafting. Angiography of the mammary arteries before bypass surgery is considered to be superfluous because they are rarely affected by atherosclerosis.1 There are, however, no data on how often an internal mammary artery graft is intraoperatively rejected because of insufficient sluggish flow due to atherosclerosis. Early postoperative graft failure is said to be mainly related to technical errors.2,3 To establish the frequency of atherosclerotic changes in the subclavian and internal mammary arteries among our patients, we performed semiselective angiography on both mammary arteries during cardiac catheterization in candidates for bypass surgery. © 1990.