Cor Vasa 2005, 46(6):247-249

Use of radial artery anatomic variation for coronary artery bypass grafting

Martin Šimek^1,*, Marek Gwozdziewicz¹, Petr Němec¹, Ivo Fluger¹, Martin Troubil¹, Zdeněk Coufal²

¹ Kardiochirurgická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc a Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého, Olomouc

² Pracoviště invazivní a intervenční kardiologie, Interní klinika IPVZ, Baťova krajská nemocnice Zlín, Zlín, Česká republika

A 68-year-old man was scheduled for complete elective arterial coronary revascularization because of shortage of vein grafts. Prior to cardiac surgery, he had undergone varicose vein surgery. The revascularization procedure was performed using the internal thoracic artery (bypassing the left anterior descending artery and the diagonal branch) and the radial artery. While performing the harvesting, we noted the distal portion of the radial artery was divided into two equivalent branches. Both these branches were used for bypass grafting to the circumflex branch of the left coronary artery and to the posterior descending branch of the right coronary artery. The cardiac procedure was carried out on the beating heart without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. At four months postoperatively, the patient was free from angina and coronary angiography revealed widely patent both branches of the radial artery as well as the left internal thoracic artery.

Keywords: Radial artery; Anatomic variation of the radial artery; Arterial coronary revascularization

Published: June 1, 2005  Show citation