Mammary-coronary artery anastomosis for myocardial revascularization.

My experience with the use of mammary-coronary artery anastomosis for myocardial revascularization in 1,500 patients over a nine-year period has been described. The procedure was used in approximately 85% of patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery, but mammary arteries accounted for only one third of the grafts. Patency rates as determined by arteriography performed from two weeks to seven years after operation were more than 95%. No late alterations in the mammary artery grafts have been seen. Clinical results have been so gratifying that I regard the procedure as the one of choice for bypass of stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery.