Treatment of severe coronary artery disease with quadruple and quintuple saphenous vein grafts. Review of 100 consecutive patients.

In order to establish the anatomic criteria, the functional results, and the safety of complete myocardial revascularization for severe coronary artery disease, 100 consecutive patients who received four or five saphenous-vein grafts were analyzed. Ages ranged from 37 to 75 years (mean, 56 years). Men predominated by a ratio of 12:1. As an indication of the severity of multiple-vessel disease, 28 percent were in functional class 4, and left ventricular function was classified as good in 47 percent, as fair in 44 percent, and as poor in 8 percent. Coronary arterial scores ranged from 9 to 15 (average, 12.2). Fourteen patients had significant left main coronary arterial obstruction. All 100 patients had grafts to the left anterior descending coronary artery; 96 to the right coronary artery; 94 to the obtuse marginal branch of the circumflex; 78 to a diagonal branch of the left anterior descending; and 27 to the distal circumflex. Operative mortality was 5 percent. Nonfatal perioperative myocardial infarction occurred in 10 percent, and only one of these had low cardiac output. Follow-up from 5 to 23 months showed 95 percent of the patients to be improved, with 70 percent free of angina. Two late deaths occurred, for an overall mortality of 7 percent.