Minimally invasive direct redo coronary artery bypass grafting.

Redo coronary artery bypass grafting due to graft failure and the progression of new lesions has been increasing in frequency recently. We are often forced to revascularize only the left anterior descending artery (LAD) in very elderly patients with a high risk to median sternotomy. We performed reoperative minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting (MIDCABG) in seven patients. The target sites were as follows: LAD, 7; first diagonal branch, 1; and the graft material was the left internal thoracic artery (LITA), 7; and saphenous vein graft (SVG), 1. Complete revascularization was accomplished in all patients, by including hybrid therapy in three patients and axillo-coronary bypass grafting with SVGs in two patients. Postoperative angiography showed all patent grafts and all patients were discharged. During a mean follow-up period of 2.4 years (range: 0.5 to 3.5 years), all were free from cardiac events, except for one patient who had recurrent angina due to failure of a previously patent graft 3 years after redo MIDCAB. These results suggest that MIDCABG via left antero-lateral thoracotomy is an effective and safe technique in redo cases, as well as an alternative procedure for hybrid revascularization that combines minimally invasive revascularization of LAD with additional catheter interventional therapy.