[Emergent coronary bypass grafting after acute myocardial infarction].

In an attempt to examine various factors affecting the short- and long-term results of emergent coronary bypass graft surgery (ECABG) after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), all patients undergoing ECABG without associated procedures at our institution from January 1987 to July 1995 were reviewed. Forty eight patients underwent ECABG after AMI. The hospital mortality rate was 20.8%. The charts of these patients were reviewed with regard to sex, age, preoperative shock, location of AMI, type of infarction, coronary anatomy, presence of postinfarction angina, technique of myocardial preservation, use of saphenous vein graft (SVG) alone, time from AMI to operation and short and long-term outcome. Univariate analyses showed that three factors were significantly associated with increased hospital death: preoperative shock (p = 0.001), type of infarction (p = 0.01), use of SVG alone (p = 0.003). Follow-up was 100% complete at a mean time of 36.4 +/- 4.8 months. Of all patients 77.0% were alive at 5 years after operation. Univariate comparison of survival curves and coronary event free curves showed that use of SVG alone was associated with decreased survival (p = 0.0009) and event free (p = 0.02) rates. Patients with non-Q-wave infarction and without cardiogenic shock may undergo ECABG relatively safely at any time. The use of internal thoracic artery at ECABG without cardiogenic shock does not increase hospital mortality and improves both long-term survival and freedom from coronary events.