bifurcating radial artery: a useful anatomic variation for coronary artery bypass grafting

a 56-year-old man with a two year history of chronic stable angina underwent elective coronary artery bypass grafting (cabg) due to angiographic report of three vessel disease and tight stenosis at proximal part of left anterior descending artery (lad). while harvesting of radial artery (ra), the distal half of radial artery was found to bifurcate to two parallel branches with equal size. we used this as a single conduit to bypass the first and second obtuse marginal (om) branches. the patient had a smooth post-operative course and uneventful recovery.