Survival benefit of exclusive use of in situ arterial conduits over combined use of arterial and vein grafts for multiple coronary artery bypass grafting.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to evaluate mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) comparing the use of only in situ arterial grafts with the use of arterial and venous conduits. METHODS AND RESULTS From April 1985 to March 1999, 1159 patients with multivessel disease underwent elective, isolated, primary, multiple CABG with at least one in situ arterial conduit. Patients who were on chronic dialysis, had active malignant disease, or had free arterial conduits were excluded. The long-term results were compared between 532 patients who had CABG using only in situ arterial conduits (group A; mean follow-up, 7.8 years) and 627 patients who underwent CABG using in situ arterial conduits and saphenous vein grafts (group B; mean follow-up, 10.3 years). Actuarial survival and freedom from cardiac death were determined by the Kaplan-Meier method. Propensity score was included in the Cox multivariable regression model for adjustment of selection bias. Survival at 10 years after surgery was 81.4% in group A and 76.9% in group B (P=0.11). Freedom from cardiac death at 10 years was 93.4% in group A and 90.4% in group B. Hazard ratio for cardiac death was significantly lower in group A (0.61; 95% confidence interval, 0.38 to 1.00; P=0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that the exclusive use of in situ arterial grafts in CABG achieves significantly better long-term survival compared with combined use of arterial and vein grafts.