Distal anastomosis support for bypass grafting with coronary endarterectomy for the severe diseased posterior descending artery.

Background: The posterior descending artery is the most common vessel chosen for an endarterectomy, while endarterectomy to the posterior descending artery is associated with decreased graft patency. The purpose of this study was to describe a distal anastomosis support (DAS) technique and retrospectively investigate the effect of DAS on the mid-term graft patency.

Methods: Between January 2016 and December 2018, 200 patients with a PDA severe lesion who underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) with CE (OPCAB + CE group,  = 95) and OPCAB + CE with DAS for anastomosis of PDA grafted by saphenous vein (SVG) (OPCAB + CE + DAS group,  = 105) were evaluated retrospectively. All patients came back to follow-up visit 6th, 12th, 24th, and 36th postoperative month. The primary endpoint is the graft failure (FitzGibbon B or O) of SVG-PDA on the follow-up CTA or CAG.

Results: There was no significant difference in perioperative outcomes. We found significantly improved cumulative graft patency in OPCAB + CE + DAS group at 36 months after operation (84.6% vs 76.5%, p = 0.02). In multivariate Cox regression analysis, plaque length larger than 2 cm (hazard ratio [HR], 13.108, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.842-60.457, p = 0.001), and peak TNI ⩾70× ULN within 48 hours of surgery (HR, 3.778, 95% CI, 1.453-9.823, p = 0.006) were independent predictors of graft failure, whereas PDA diameter greater than 1.5 mm (HR, 0.231, 95% CI, 0.081-0.654, p = 0.006), and DAS use (HR, 0.336, 95% CI, 0.139-0.812, p = 0.015) were significant protective factors.

Conclusions: Concomitant DAS conferred superior mid-term patency of SVG-PDA. Adding the DAS procedure to OPCAB + CE may be a promising surgical option for patients with a PDA severe lesion, especially when PDA diameter less than 1.5 mm and plaque length greater than 2 cm.