BACKGROUND:

The long-term prognosis and serial angiographic follow-up beyond 10 years in patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) have not been fully studied in Japan.

METHODS AND RESULTS:

In the present study data from 71 patients who underwent CABG before 1992 were analyzed. Thirty patients had a saphenous vein graft (SVG) only group, and the remaining 41 had a left internal thoracic artery graft to the left anterior descending coronary artery (LITA) group; 6 patients died from malignancy, which was the most common cause of death after CABG. The major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were defined as cardiac death, Q-wave or nonQ-wave myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure. The MACE-free rate was significantly higher in the LITA group than in the SVG group (p < 0.05). However, among the patients with an ejection fraction < 0.40, there was no significant difference in MACE-free rate between the 2 groups. The LITA patency rate was significantly higher than that for SVG (p < 0.05) and the SVG patency rate was lower in the patients with hyperlipidemia (p < 0.05); cholesterol-lowering therapy improved the SVG patency rate.

CONCLUSION:

The long-term outcome of CABG was favorable, particularly if using an arterial graft. Although the patency rate was lower for the SVG than LITA, the patient's lipid profile might be an important factor in the SVG patency rate.