Restoration of patency of left internal mammary artery graft with progression of the underlying left anterior descending coronary artery disease.

The use of the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) to graft a borderline lesion in the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) has been associated with distal narrowing and occlusion of the LIMA. We present a patient in whom the LIMA occluded 1 year after coronary artery bypass, but was found to be fully patent 4 years later, after progression of the native LAD disease.