Use of the In Situ Right Internal Thoracic Artery as an Alternative Single-Inflow Source.

BACKGROUND

This study was conducted to evaluate whether the in situ right internal thoracic artery (RITA) can be an effective alternative to the left internal thoracic artery (LITA) as a single-inflow source in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

METHODS

Between 2006 and 2018, 73 patients underwent CABG with the composite grafting based on the in situ RITA as a single-inflow source (the RITA group). Angiographic patency and clinical outcomes were evaluated. These were compared with results after CABG using the composite grafting based on the in situ LITA (the LITA group) by 1:1 propensity score matching.

RESULTS

Forty-three pairs were extracted by 1:1 propensity score matching. There were no significant intergroup differences in overall patency rates between the RITA and LITA groups at 1 year (92.2% [95/103] and 92.5% [111/120], respectively;  = .90) and 5 years (87.3% [48/55] and 90.4% [85/94], respectively;  = .58). There were no significant differences in the cumulative incidences of reintervention and major adverse cardiac events between the 2 groups (hazard ratio, 2.0 [95% CI, 0.33-11.97] and 1.50 [0.41-5.45], respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Five-year graft patency and long-term clinical outcomes after CABG using the composite grafting based on the in situ RITA were not significantly different from those after CABG using the LITA.