Different Surgical Strategies for Management of Severely Diseased Left Anterior Descending Artery During Coronary Artery Bypasses Grafting

Total myocardial revascularization is the primary aim of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) . Conventional CABG does not attain sufficient myocardial revascularization in severely diseased left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). Coronary endarterectomy for severely atherosclerotic LAD was first introduced by Bailey and his coworkers , but it has a higher risk of morality and poor outcomes. The reconstruction of LAD with saphenous vein or left internal mammary artery (LIMA) combined with endarterectomy was described by Fundaro and others surgeons for better long-term patency of LIMA graft and to avoid the drawbacks of endarterectomy. Reconstruction of diffusely diseased LAD with LIMA on-lay patch or saphenous vein patch without endarterectomy by opening the whole wall of the diseased segment(s) has less risk and fewer complications compared to endarterectomy technique. However, the superiority of LIMA path versus saphenous vein patch is still controversial.

In addition, the LIMA patch is occasionally not available as a bypass to LAD, for example with relatively shorter LIMA due to enlarged left ventricle, difficulty in harvesting the proximal LIMA, accidental injury of the LIMA pedicle during harvesting, calcification of the middle or distal LIMA or mismatching between the LAD and distal LIMA. To overcome this, an end-to-end anastomosis with the distal in situ LIMA and saphenous vein graft (SVG) was performed to establish a composite graft to bypass the LAD.