May Distal Coronary Pressure Measurement taken from Anastomosed Radial Artery Grafts Predict Early-Term Graft Patency?

Prone to spasm of radial artery (RA) was the primary concern for the use of arterial conduit for myocardial revascularization. Spasm of RA was overcomed by calcium channel blockers and radial artery popularized in cardiac surgery. RA is being used as a second arterial conduit in world widely . Severity of stenosis in the native coronary artery is critical to both the short and long-term patency of the RA, because of the potentially negative effects of competitive flow when the stenosis is below 70% . Visual estimates of the severity of coronarystenosis are frequently very inaccurate.

Angiography is sometimes inaccurate in assessing the functional significance of a coronary stenosis. For this reason Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) is being used for accurately assessing functional significance of a coronary stenosis . But currently, only 6% of patients had FFR measurement before revascularization procedure is carried out . Most surgeons are using RA for revascularization without having enough information about the functional significance of coronary stenosis. These RA conduits may be occluded in a low degree coronary stenosis. Therefore we have preferentially performed a prospective study by using distal coronary artery pressure and aortic pressure measurements and try to predict short-term patency of the RA. Read more.............