Aortocoronary Bypass With Saphenous Vein Graft

Seven-Year Follow-Up

Garrett, H. Edward MD
Dennis, Edward W. MD
DeBakey, Michael E. MD

From the departments of surgery (Drs. Garrett and DeBakey) and medicine (Dr. Dennis), Baylor College of Medicine, and the Methodist Hospital, Houston. Dr. Garrett is now at the University of Tennessee Medical Units, Memphis.

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 276(18):p 1517-1520, November 13, 1996.

A 42-year-old man had extensive occlusive disease of the coronary artery and angina pectoris. An autogenous saphenous vein bypass from the ascending aorta to the anterior descending coronary artery was performed on Nov 23, 1964. The patient suffered an asymptomatic anterior myocardial infarction during operation but made an uncomplicated recovery. Seven years after the operation, the graft functions with normal left ventricular hemodynamics, while the occlusive process has produced obstruction of the left main coronary artery and almost complete occlusion of the right coronary artery. To our knowledge, this is the first successful case of a saphenous vein-coronary artery bypass with the longest follow-up of a functioning coronary vein bypass graft.

February 12, 1973

JAMA.1973;223:792-794