Simultaneous Axillo-Axillary Crossover Bypass Grafting and Off-Pump CABG Using Bilateral Internal Thoracic Arteries in a Patient with Severe Atherosclerosis in Both the Ascending Aorta and Proximal Left Subclavian Artery

Simultaneous Axillo-Axillary Crossover Bypass Grafting and Off-Pump CABG Using Bilateral Internal Thoracic Arteries in a Patient with Severe Atherosclerosis in Both the Ascending Aorta and Proximal Left Subclavian Artery (Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart Center, St. Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan) Yutaka Iba Sunao Watanabe Takehide Akimoto Kouhei Abe Hitoshi Koyanagi Combined surgery for left subclavian artery revascularization and CABG was performed in a 74-year-old man with diabetes mellitus. The preoperative coronary angiogram showed critical stenoses in all three major branches, and arteriography revealed obstruction at the left proximal subclavian artery. Severe atherosclerotic calcification was acknowledged circumferentially in the ascending aorta and in the aortic arch. For this patient axillo-axillary crossover bypass grafting was performed first using and expanded PTFE graft, followed subsequently by off-pump CABG using all in situ grafts (right internal thoracic artery-left anterior descending artery (RITA-LAD), left internal thoracic artery-diagonal branch (LITA-diagonal branch), gastro-epiploic artery-right coronary artery (GEA-RCA)). Postoperative recovery was smooth, with disappearance of significant pressure difference between both arms (preoperatively, 46mmHg). An angiogram on the 7th postoperative day showed a widely patent axillo-axillary bypass graft along with good flow of all three coronary grafts, in which LITA was visualized well through the axillo-axillary bypass graft. For complex atherosclerotic disease of the proximal aorta and incipient portion of neck vessels associated with severe coronary sclerosis, this technique is a suitable option. Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 33: 158-161 (2004)