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Total Arterial Revascularization, Techniques, and Results

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Ischemic Heart Disease
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Abstract

CABG is the most commonly performed cardiac operation worldwide with almost 400,000 surgeries per year [1], and since the dawn, it has been characterized by an internal contradiction: being the most frequently used graft, the SV is also the most prone to failure, with pathological reports of accelerated intimal hyperplasia, premature atherosclerosis, and graft thrombosis [2].

Although at its origin CABG began with the LITA [3], the SV with its technical ease of harvest, its robust handling characteristics, and its versatility as an aortocoronary graft quickly simplified the conduct of the operation and allowed for widespread reproducibility.

The good surgical common sense has historically suggested that it was better to use arteries instead of the SV as second or third graft, but notwithstanding plenty analysis conducted in much of the world reporting favorable experiences with arterial grafts over the SV, the vast majority of cardiac surgeons have underused TAR due to its greater technical complexity and the higher level of surgical commitment required, justifying the decision with the absence of scientific evidence of clinical benefits.

Currently, the vast majority of CABG surgeries around the world are carried out using LITA for LAD and additional segments of SV for the circumflex and right coronary artery [4].

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Lemma, M. (2023). Total Arterial Revascularization, Techniques, and Results. In: Concistrè, G. (eds) Ischemic Heart Disease. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25879-4_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25879-4_25

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