Long-term vein graft patency of Japanese patients is satisfactory.

摘要

We estimated the length of the real "life span" of the SVG in Japanese patients. We performed 34 re-do CABG from July, 2002 to October, 2008 and examined the coronary angiography of 72 SVGs in these patients. We defined a "Dead SVG" as an SVG with stenosis greater than 50 % and/or vein graft disease and a "Living SVG" as an SVG that is not a dead SVG. An actuarial survival of the SVG was estimated by Kaplan-Meier method. "Survival rate" of the SVG at 5, 10, 15 years was 86.1%, 75.3%, 39.5%, respectively. The mean survival period of the SVG was estimated at 13.3 years. We completely agree with importance of the left ITA-to-LAD graft. However, our results suggested that we could expect good outcomes after CABG using SVGs as the second or the third conduits, especially in elderly patients over 70s.