Comparison Between 2 Bilateral Internal Thoracic Artery Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Configurations

Bilateral internal thoracic arteries (BITA) demonstrated superiority over other grafts to the left coronary system in terms of patency and survival benefit. Several BITA configurations are proposed for left-sided myocardial revascularization, but the ideal BITA assemblage is still unidentified. From 03/2003 to 08/2006, 1297 consecutive patients underwent isolated bypass surgery in our institution. 481 patients met the inclusion criteria for randomization and 304 (64%) were randomized. Patients were allocated to BITA in situ grafting (n=147) or Y configuration (n=152) then evaluated for clinical, functional, and angiographic outcome after 6 months, 3 and 7 years . Patient telephone interviews were conducted every 3 months and a stress test performed twice yearly under the referring cardiologist's supervision. Angiographic follow-up was performed 6 months after surgery. The primary and secondary end points were, respectively, major adverse cerebro-cardiovascular events (MACCE) and the proportion of ITA grafts that were completely occluded at follow-up angiography.